For four years he has been looking at the same wall. On Tuesday morning, SU swimmer Spencer Raymond looked at the wall for what could be the final time. The decorated swimmer, and son of a former Orangemen football player, will compete in the Big East Championships today. The meet – in Uniondale – will run through Saturday. His goal is to shave precious tenths-of-seconds off of his current times so that he can qualify for the NCAA championships. If he doesn’t do that, there will be no more practices – and no more wall.The tile wall outside of head coach Lou Walker’s office is where the daily practice workout for all SU swimmers is posted. Male and females swimmers regularly glare and groan at the schedule upon entering the pool. Every day for four seasons Raymond has checked that schedule moaning, groaning and all the while becoming SU’s top swimmer. ‘There are some times that wall sucks,’ Raymond said. ‘But it gets easier as the season goes on. At the beginning some of those workouts are tough, but you just keep working.’Raymond will lead the men into Uniondale today for the final meet of the season. It is a meet that Walker has won three times as a head coach, but an event at which Raymond’s respective teams have never finished higher than sixth.’I am starting to feel real strong,’ Raymond said, ‘Everyone is feeling good. There is a good chance for one of the best finishes since I’ve been here.’Walker, who has been on the job 28 years, keeps a grounded perspective.’This is the fun part of the season,’ Walker said. ‘The kids just have to keep pushing forward and doing what they have done to get them here.’According to Raymond, the mindset for the swimmers is to save your best race of the season for the Big East Championships. Last year, the senior finished sixth in the 100-meter breaststroke (55.97) and 14th in the 50 freestyle (20.76) at the Big East meet.Raymond – who has lived in Toronto, London, Germany and attended Singapore American High School – entered SU with little notoriety. ‘I was looking to come here,’ Raymond remembers. ‘I sent a tape in to coach Walker and I came in as a walk-on.’Today, the top men’s swimmer, who has created a name for himself during four winters at SU, will compete individually in the 50 and 100 freestyle competitions as well as the 100 breaststroke.For Raymond and five other seniors, their time at Syracuse is dwindling away. ‘Sometimes I feel remorseful,’ Raymond said. ‘I feel that if I kept going I’d keep improving. Sometimes I feel like I’ll never know what could have been.’ The men enter the meet – a meet Pittsburgh has won the last seven years – with a deep squad. Standout freshman Luk Boral as well as distance swimmer Pat Mugavin will look to produce their top times of the season in Long Island. Boral holds the top time in the league in the 200 breaststroke, and Mugavin has yet to loose a race in 2004.'(This season) went really fast,’ Boral said, ‘I think I have improved my skills. I want to go in there and do a good job.’On the women’s side of the meet Elyse McDonough will look to do exactly what Raymond is doing – attempt to qualify for the NCAA championships. The senior is a two-time captain and just missed the NCAA championship in each of the last two years. McDonough, should she qualify, would be the first Orangewoman to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship meet since Liz Vilbert, who did it 23 years ago.A year ago, McDonough was a runner-up in the 200 butterfly race. To date she is one of SU’s most successful swimmers and holds eight Orangewomen records to go along with a pair of Webster Pool records. The three-day event will operate with preliminary heats in the morning and finals during the evening. Walker says he will have few words for his swimmers before the meet begins.’The last meeting I don’t say too much,’ Walker said. ‘We go over what we are trying to do and the process that is going to get us there. I’ll remind them this is what they invested all this time for.’