Team of the Month: Girls Swim

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Team of the Month: Girls Swim

Javon Murry, Staff Writer

Greendale always has extremely competitive sports teams and this year has been no different. Throughout all of the teams who are dedicated and the most electric, GIRLS SWIM has been chosen for your Team Of The Month. 

These ladies have put in countless hours of practice and it all shows in the pool, where they won the 2021 Conference Relay races as well as their dual meets against Shorewood, South Milwaukee, Cudahy, Oconomowoc, and Pewaukee. 

Captain and senior Megan Mellock, who swims is happy with the team’s success. “A key success with the swim team has been the team environment. Always being positive, cheering each other on, and being supportive have always helped with our success,” she said.

 Coaching also plays a huge role in how well these ladies perform. “It is always good to get advice and talk about life with them,” Mellock said. “Sometimes they seem more like friends than coaches.” 

Senior captain Jocelyn Zgola holds records in the Greendale swimming pool of the 200 Free, 500 Free, 200 Free Relay, and the 400 Free Relay. Zgola has been a consistent swimmer this year and sets high expectations for herself. “My individual goal is to place in the top three in both of my individual events at state,” she said. “We put in a lot of hard work during practice while still being able to have fun and enjoy our training. We hold ourselves accountable by always giving our best effort in practice or at meets.” 

Junior swimmer Kate Turner stresses the importance of having a good relationship with your teammates. “Being able to work as a team and communicate with each other has made our team the most successful,” she said.

She also enjoys the energy and encouragement from everyone. “How supportive and competitive we all are. We all want to find ways to improve,” she said.

Most of these athletes have been swimming before they entered the high school level. Being able to perform at the highest level and come out on top has been one of the most satisfying experiences as a spectator. Even training outside of practice is necessary when trying to win a state championship.

Sophomore swimmer Nikolina Gallo loves how much the relay teams have grown after being faced with adversity, “After conference relays our team’s excitement grew immensely,” she said. 

In the 2020 season, Shorewood had defeated the Panthers in the State meet. But, the Panthers got their revenge as they beat them this year at their dual meet. “We were all very nervous we weren’t going to beat Shorewood but once we did we were all very excited to work even harder,” she said.

Team manager, junior Mallory Skaar can’t believe how hard the girls work, “I’ve never seen a sports team be as hard-working as these girls. Their coaches believe in them so much it makes them try harder and become better people,” she said. 

Confidence is also key when it comes to swimming. One false movement and suddenly you could go from 1st to 3rd. “The better they get at swimming the happier the girls become. They are such a good team and every single person on that team is good friends,” Skaar said. “…They never talk negatively about swim and only talk about how much they love it. They have become fantastic swimmers and such good people.”  

Swim coach Melanie Carlson is appreciative of being able to coach this team. It is always fun to think back to my first season with the swim team, and with this now being my third season, I have had the opportunity to watch many of them grow into outstanding athletes and young women,” she said.

Having strong leaders is really important in the sense that if you don’t have a leader, your team could go downhill. “My goals as a coach as we enter the championship portion of our season is, first of all, to have fun, but more importantly to continue to support and advocate for my swimmers while also being intentional about my coaching practices,” Carlson said. 

Being around such good energy has made the swim team perform at such a high level. Each swimmer has been dedicated to being better every day. Swim has been consistent throughout the entire season. This consistency will be put to the test as they will be competing at Greenfield High School on Oct 30 to determine the 2021 Conference Champions.