With the girls swim season on the horizon, the team members and coaches have an optimistic outlook. Girls swim is often overlooked as a competitive high school sport; however the expectations are very high for the upcoming season. Tryouts were November 6-10. The coaches have seen an outstanding group of girls come and try out this year.

“My expectations for the year are for the girls is to improve and increase their PR’s in multiple events, challenge for state records, and to hopefully get state relays and state qualifiers,” said Head Coach Jacob Boling.

The coaches expect greatness from these girls. Swim is more serious than the student body ever realized. Swim is very important to these girls and their coaches always pushing them beyond their limits. The team members expect more from themselves as well, always lifting each other up and trying to correct mistakes.

During practices, these girls work extremely hard to increase stamina and increase muscular endurance. They also swim yards to increase the rate that they swim. The team members also work on distance more than they do sprinting. There are different girls who specialize in certain strokes and others in all the strokes. The team also consists of four divers who contribute a lot to the team.

The girls have their own personal goals, consisting of goals from last year to new ones for this year. They want to improve themselves. They want to increase their stamina. They also have set standards for themselves this season. They have set personal goals and are working extremely hard in and out of the pool.

There are certain rules these girls must follow, but these rules also allow them to set achievable goals for themselves. These girls must have a certain amount of practices in order to compete. The coaches have started a new technique this year; the girls must attend 1 weight training per week to hopefully prevent injuries to the shoulders. They also have rules while in the pool, this includes staying on the right side of your lane. Also If someone touches your foot while in the pool, let them pass you. These girls must always be on time for the bus when leaving school for practices and meets.

The scoring is much different than most people realize. For instance, if you touch the bottom of the pool you are disqualified. ¨The main goal overall is to beat everyone in your heat (age group). There are different types of judges such as timers and stroke judges. The amount of points you get depends on what place you get, such as 1st place is eight points and 8th place in zero points,”  said Kayla Denney (‘21).

“The points all get added up at the end to find out which team won. There are no individual points even with the divers. Most of the girls swim meets happen at the St. Peters Rec Plex unless the school has their own pool,” said Sophia Mink (‘21).

Some of the things the team looks forward to is invitationals. They have higher standards with more schools attending them. They also go to Cape Girardeau which is one of the bigger meets of the season in the middle of January. The girls always tend to have a good time there with competition rising in the air.Their first meet will be held  December fifth. State will be February seventeenth and conferences are the fifth to the seventh of February. The only way for these girls to make postseason is to swim a certain time and make state. Another big meet for these girls is the Fort Zumwalt North Invite at the beginning of January right after winter break.

Some expectations this season is to have a couple of state relays and a couple of state qualifiers. The coaches are hoping that doing some specific weight training will decrease the amount of injuries to shoulders. They are also going to mix up the events a bit more in order to give girls the chance to swim different things. The returning girls are hoping to increase their PR’s and their to achieve their goals for the upcoming season.

“I started out really bad, but if you keep working hard and if you work really hard to meet your goals and you try your best you can become better and just work hard,” Annora Curry (‘19).

Don’t miss their first meet on December 5 at Parkway Central High School against Parkway Central.