As the Girls Swimming and Diving team’s season comes to an end, they look back on the challenging season. Along with the challenge comes the preparation for sections, where the goal is state. Senior captain Lydia Anez said, “This was my best high school season overall. The girls and I had amazing swims and dropped a lot of time individually. We only won one dual meet this year, compared to three last year, but what matters the most is how our positive attitudes led to big time drops and personal bests. We also became close as a team and have many great memories. Being done with my swimming career is bitter sweet. I’m glad that the mentally and physically hard practices are done, but I miss competing and miss being around my best friends every day.”

Through the long and tough season, the girls have slowly been progressing and getting better every meet in hopes of reaching the state meet. The girls traveled to the section meet in Shakopee on Wednesday, Nov. 11, and Friday, Nov. 13. The team had a strong tournament and delivered great effort. Senior Lydia Anez got 8th in the 50 freestyle and 11th in the 100 free. Katie Belina got 9th in 100 backstroke. Hanna Roberts got 12th in the 500 freestyle and the 200 freestyle. Roberts was 0.2 seconds away from breaking the 500 free school record, which is 5:31.6. Erica Svenby got 11th in 100 backstroke, and Emma Stockwell got 10th in 100 free.

The team had two relays consisting of Hanna Roberts, Katie Belina, Emma Stockwell and Lydia Anez participating in the 200 and 400 free relays. The relays took 7th in both events and were two seconds off the school record for the 400 free relay. Head coach Isaiah Fuller said “I thought the season went extremely well. Usually in a sport like swimming, there is a part of the season where the swimmers will plateau, and this year, we were able to keep dropping throughout the season. All of the coaches were really pleased with how it went. It went exactly how we had hoped; it is always our goal to continue to improve. Before the season, we knew we could have a solid roster, but were surprised at the end of the year with how solid it ended up being. The girls worked extremely hard this year, and the leadership from the older girls was fantastic. I think that contributed a lot to our success.” For seniors, high school swimming and diving is over, unless they compete at the college level. The varsity returnees and the upcoming varsity swimmers and divers look forward to next season and the opportunity to do great things.