The women’s swim and dive team’s atmosphere projects positive energy and great chemistry. The team has had a successful season and there was no rest for the swim team as they dove into state on the weekend of February 19, at St. Peters Rec Plex.

   The swim team competed in over 15 meets and practiced afterschool in preparation for state Coach Christopher Murphy was eager to see the outcome of state for the swim team qualifiers, Anna Carl, Madeline Pittman, Hannah Schrag, Kendyl Beatty and Shea Williams.

  “I’m excited about seeing them swim. We did not taper, that’s when you rest at the end of the year,” Murphy said. “We have not tapered yet, so I’m hoping to see some times drop out there. I think that’s possible, both in individual and our relays.”

   The girls on the swim and dive team strive to have a team full of encouragement.

   “We’re all really close and we’re all really good friends this year. We really try to cheer each other on and be really positive. That was our main goal this year,” senior Anna Carl said.

    Sophomore Hannah Schrag agreed.

   “I love the friendships that are made through the team and how close everybody gets along with each other during the season,” she said. “We always have pasta parties before every meet, so that’s a really good time to connect with everybody.”

   Sophomore Shea Williams enjoys bonding with her teammates.

   “Everyone’s so supportive of each other. We’re all friends, it’s just really fun to be around the girl’s everyday,” she said.

    Positive energy was attributed as one reason for the team’s success.

    “We’ve actually done really well; I know a lot of us have gotten a lot better,” sophomore Madeline Pittman said. “Plus the energy is so positive with us, so if we have a bad swim meet, then somebody knows how to get us back on our feet and get us ready for our next race.”

   The swim team puts in a lot of hours and hard work to prepare for meets.

   “We just work hard and in swimming we swim up to three to four miles a day. As you go through practice you build up to that point and then you come back down at the end of the year. It’s a lot of work everyday, at least two hours a day and some Saturdays,” Murphy said.

    There has been two very memorable meets this season, the varsity conference sticks out to Carl in particular.

    “I think our varsity conference meet was just the best because we all dropped a lot of time,” Carl said. “We had a lot of fun cheering each other on and we were just the loudest team there and it was really fun.”

    In January, The COMO invitational meet, held at Columbia, Missouri, stood out to Schrag this season.

   “Everybody on our team had a really good meet. Everyone dropped time and it was a great atmosphere. Two of our relays got our state cut, so that was really fun. It was just altogether a really good meet,” Schrag said.