Lexie Pilz

Senior Sophie Vietor performs a butterfly stroke during practice on Nov. 27. “[Doing a variety of strokes] helps give me a chance to improve all of my strokes and makes the sets more interesting instead of doing freestyle or one stroke the whole practice,” Vietor said.

Putting in six days of practice per week, the swim season began for 23 swimmers and five divers on Nov. 7 when tryouts commenced. 

After last years season record of 5-4, (5 wins, 4 losses), the girls placed second at the conference meet and 31st at state.

“This year the state meet is going to be divided into two classes, depending on school size,” head coach Allison Wallace said. “This is the first time that this has happened which will allow more athletes to participate during the state meet.”

Practices are from 3 to 5:15 p.m. after school Monday through Thursday, from 5:15 to 7 a.m. before school on Friday and from 6 to 8 a.m. on Saturdays.

“After the warm-up [around 1000 yards of laps] we go into our main set which is around 4000 yards. Some days it’s distance some days it’s sprinting some days it’s individual medley,” sophomore swimmer Lydia Roseman said. “Wallace writes the set on the board and the intervals that we have to make and after she explains the set we finish it on our own, following the intervals and watching the clock to make sure we make the right times.”

For the divers, most practices consist of working on new dives or practicing the ones they already know. There are five types of dives: fronts, backs, inwards, reverses and twisters.

“My favorite part about dive is feeling so accomplished when you learn a new dive,” senior Erin Leahy said.

After losing six seniors, four from dive and two from swim last year, the team had five freshman swimmers and divers join the lineup.

“Although we lose some [athletes], there are new girls on the team who are excited to get a chance to compete and see what they can do,” Wallace said.

One of the new members of the swim team is freshman Megan Leahy. She has been doing summer swim league since she was four years old.
“I am excited for meet season because I want everyone to see how hard everyone has worked,” M.Leahy said. “Also, I know swim does a lot of team bonding throughout the season so I am excited to make friends with people that aren’t in my grade.”

For several of the girls on the swim team, an important aspect of the team is the team bonding and overall sisterhood, created by the girls.

“I love getting to know and making bonds with all of the girls on the team, especially girls that I don’t get to have in class with me like freshmen and upperclassmen,” Roseman said.

With high hopes and hard working athletes, the girls set forth on the journey to their goal: state.

“The time and commitment that they put forward will pay off at the end of the season,” Wallace said. “We are hoping to have a winning record for dual meets, win conference and finish top 4 in the state.”