The Greendale girls swim season is now over, and the girls put in tons of effort in practices and meets and have been working hard to have a successful season.
This years swim state qualifiers are senior Lydia Anderson, junior Julie Lehman, freshman Lillie MacKenzie, junior Bailey Sowa, and freshman Jamie Zgola.
Sowa was very satisfied with her performance at state because she feels that she has shown a lot of improvement since her past years at state.
“I was really happy with my performance and my team’s performance at state this year! This was the first year I had ever made it to state in three events, so I was really happy,” Sowa said, “I beat my own best time in my 200 IM, my backstroke was strong and our relay was outstanding, with being seeded 16th place to getting 10th and dropping over six seconds from our seed time.”
Before state, many of the girls had certain routines or habits that they did to prep for the big day.
“Before state, I follow my routine of getting extra sleep, tapering at practice, and just preparing mentally for my races,” MacKenzie said.
“Visualizing my race over and over again helps me focus on what I need to do so that by the time I get behind the blocks, I don’t need to think, I just go,” Sowa said. “Another ritual I have is to always eat Skittles 15 minutes before my race. The sugar gives me a nice short burst of energy right before I head up to the blocks.”
Now that the season is over, the team reflected on their performance, and saw great improvement since the start.
“The beginning of the season we all worked very hard, and it’s really showed. We are glad that we finished the season strong,” Anderson said.
The Captains of the team this year were Anderson, Clea Walters, and Lyla Gibson. Being a captain on the swim team is crucial for the team to help overcome challenges and work for success.
“Having a leadership role means so much to me because I get to share the knowledge that I have learned from past captains and coaches to the rest of the team,” Anderson said.
Every year, the team comes together and hosts bonding events to get to know eachother more and to prepare a good mindset for meet days.
“Most of the time for team bonding, we all just go out to eat or go do fun things,” junior Eva Walters said. “Most Tuesdays, we always have a team dinner or a pasta dinner as a team because we have a meet the next day. It’s really fun to just a time to hangout and have fun as a group.”
With this season being the last for all the seniors, they have made a big impact for all underclassmen and were a vital part of the team’s success.
“I think all of the upperclassmen have influenced me in some kind of way. Naima Rewolinski really pushed me to keep swimming, even when I was super tired, and she’s was always super positive,” Walters said.
