The girls swim team had a positive outcome at sectionals, despite the challenges they faced throughout the season.
“I think the biggest achievement we made as a team was getting through the toughness together. Although we were put through a lot more hardships this season than usual, we never turned our backs on our team,” junior Hazel Miller said.
Getting through hardship wasn’t their only accomplishment throughout the season. The girls mid season competed at IUPUI, the girls were put to the test to see how to navigate through a big competition with such a small team.
“I think our finish at county was the greatest accomplishment just because of how small our team is, yet we finished extremely well amongst other great teams. All of our swimmers showed up Friday and Saturday and swam great races both days,” senior Sarah Haynes said.
The girls had a challenging end of the season with practices and preparation for sectionals. For more resistance in the water and to gain more strength in their legs, the girls wore leggings while swimming their last week of practice. Also had shorter sets with more intensity, to stay in shape while tapering.
“Our preparations for sectionals this year were super physically and mentally exhausting. We wore leggings and trained at such a high intensity. To stay motivated, we made everything funny, always joking and laughing with each other and listening to our music,” Miller said.
During sectionals, the team had their ups and downs with one day not doing their best, but the next day coming back and demolishing their races. The girls had to find ways to keep positive in the times that they weren’t doing so well, and recognize when they had successes.
“Cheering for my team and keeping the positive mentality helped me to stay positive on my own races. Seeing the girls PR in their individual races made me so genuinely happy for them, and I knew I would be the same amount of proud of myself if I went out and gave everything I had,” Haynes said.
Miller and Haynes both gave it their all on finals and left it all out in the water. Their hard work worked in their favor one way or another, whether it was in prelims or finals.
“This sectionals was the best I have personally had since my freshman year which is saying a lot. I reached four new PR’s and moved up places in my individual events,” Miller said.
Haynes didn’t have the greatest start on the first day, but definitely improved on that saturday. She put her heart out into her last swim and she finished her high school swim season with a bang and all the hard work she put in paid off.
“I personally didn't have a good prelims night but I improved all of my times from Thursday to Saturday. During my finals race of the 100 breaststroke I felt like I left everything I had in the water, and actually felt like I finished the race how I had been training to finish it for years,” Haynes said.
Haynes played a big role in the team this year being that she was one of the team captains. She had to make sure everyone was doing what they had to do, and as well as make sure she was being a good role model.
“The hardest part is having to be the good guy and the bad guy at the same time, the coaches will give me tasks or have me be in charge of doing things with the team, then when it comes time for it I have to be the one enforcing things, which I don't like,” Haynes said.
The girls needed a lot of motivation this season and having that support truly helped. Just enjoy yourself, but also put in the work when it is needed. Having a family-like team will make the time easier and less challenging,
“Show up, put the work in. You only get out what you put in. If you wanna be great, show up everyday and do the sets like they're written, nobody ever gets anywhere by taking the shortcuts,” Haynes said.