Girls Varsity Swim Splashes Into a New Season
Sep 23, 2022
The girls swim and dive team take their marks, diving into another great season. Last Friday, the Varsity Swim and Dive had their 3rd home meet of the season, hosting Maine East. The girls had a great fight against the Maine East, the Blue Demons winning many of the events.
The team is the largest it has been in the past 3 years, according to coach Kristen Kowalczuk .“It’s good we have had a record turn out in numbers, we have 50 total athletes, swimmers, and divers” Kowalczuk said.
Though having a big team could be tough to be close to everyone, the wolves have no problem making their team a pack. “Although swimming is an individual sport, at the end of the day we are really like a team, like a family,” senior Caitriona Hermer said.
Their team is very close this year, “It is so good this year everyone just clicks, everyone knows each other which is really great” senior Sydney Dao said. The coaches also have plenty of team bonding events coming up this year like their annual pancake breakfast and a team cookout.
Expectations this season are very set, the girls want a good season and to overall have fun, “This is my last season swimming, so I just want to have some fun, drop some times you know, make some good memories,” Dao said. “I just want the team to have a good, fun year,” Hermer said.
With 10 meets left the girls have been working hard, with either morning practice or after-school practice every day. Their hard work paid off, “We definitely had a good start to this season,” Hermer said. “It’s going pretty good, the vibe is always up, the energy always high,” Dao said.
The 500 is one of the girl’s hardest events, with 20 laps in the pool it takes lots of strength and mental toughness. West didn’t win this event, but the wolves persevered through and finished the race. Diving isn’t a piece of cake either, the team has one varsity diver who competed Friday. Senior Natalia Garcia must have all the dives memorized, she won’t know what dives the judges will pick until she is on the board ready to jump. She will have to recall how to do it and perform it perfectly for the judges to give her a 10.
Unlike other teams, swim and dive does not have assigned team captains until the end of the season. “We have a leadership team,” Kowalczuk said, “The leadership takes on different roles throughout the season, and then the coaches determine at the end of the season who has followed through and fulfilled their roles.”
The girls will compete in their next home meet on October 7th, be there are cheer the girls on to victory!
