The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
Reaching for the wall, sophomore Bella Lamb glides through the water in the 100-meter backstroke on Jan. 28 against Lutheran South High School. Lamb’s main event has been the 500-meter freestyle and she worked the most on pacing during practice. “I really wanted to go to state for my 500[-meter freestyle] and the state cut is six minutes. At the Kirkwood Invite, I went 5:47, so I currently have a state cut in the 500. And so [now] I'm working towards getting a lower time,” Lamb said.

Photo of the Week – January 31

Cindy Phung, Editor-in-Chief • January 31, 2025

Rising out of the water, girls swim and dive co-captain and senior Norah Rutkowski grasps a momentary breath of air as she swims the butterfly stroke. Last week, Rutkowski competed alongside seven of her teammates at the state swim meet, held at St. Peters RecPlex. “This year at state, I got [No. 1 in] the 100-yard [butterfly] and fourth [in] [the 200-yard [individual medley]. [Winning] was a relief because it was something I had been wanting to do again. Freshman year was weird because it was COVID-19, and my time was relatively slow for someone to win state in that event, so I wanted to prove I could do it again,” Rutkowski said.

Waves of wonder

Cindy Phung, Editor-in-Chief • February 23, 2024

Over Feb. 15-16, girls swim and dive co-captain and senior Norah Rutkowski placed first in the state for the 100-yard butterfly — an admirable feat in and of itself. However, the accomplishment was not...

Swimming the 500-freestyle, junior Maddi Lang competes in a home meet against South, Tuesday, Dec. 13. Already five weeks into the season, Lang improved her freestyle time by five seconds. “I loved the meets and how we all supported each other, it was a positive [environment]. At our very first meet, I could see our team at the side of the pool cheering for everyone, which was a cool [experience.] Even though some people might not have [as good of a ranking] as others, we all supported each other,” Lang said.

Photo of the Week – Dec. 16

Ashlyn Gillespie, Deputy Managing Editor-in-Chief • December 16, 2022

Junior Lauren McLeod, a member of the swim and dive team, gives her all in the 100 backstroke. McLeod has been a part of the varsity swim and dive team for two years, and has been swimming for seven years of her life. "It's a sport that takes a lot of perseverance. But it is also very rewarding to be a part of a team that is so driven and always brings each other up," McLeod said.

Photo of the Week-Jan.11

Bri Davis, Staff Writer • January 15, 2021

The girls swim and dive team parades around school after returning home with the school’s thirteenth state title. “There is not just one person who won state for us like scoring all the points,” senior Claire Lynn said. “Each person had to do well in every single event to get enough points in order to win state, so we each just had to support each other and cheer for each event because we each are equally important. We went out there and did our best.”

Girls swim and dive team wins thirteenth state title

Ridwan Oyebamiji, Features Section Editor • March 2, 2020

The last time girls swim and dive won state was 2011. That championship drought ended Feb. 21 at the St. Peters Rec-Plex as the swim team won first out of 46 schools for a state title. The team claimed...

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.

Girls swim and dive kicks off season

Irene Yannakakis, STAFF WRITER • December 6, 2017

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...