The start of swim season kicked off on Nov. 13, and all the swimmers have been preparing and looking forward to the upcoming swim meets of the year.

A lot of practice has gone into getting ready for the upcoming meet on Thursday, Dec. 14 by working really hard on their strokes and competing against their teammates to be chosen to swim varsity. Along with preparing for meets physically, the majority of the preparation is the mental aspect of how each individual wants to start off their personal season and how the first meet affected that. “The first swim meet of the season is like the start of any game, you have to start strong and give it your all because for the next three months all you’re aiming to do is beat your times and get faster and win; the first meet starts you on that path,” freshmen, Madison Wilkinson said.

This season looks a little different than last years with the loss of seniors and a lot of new swimmers on the team. With the additional swimmers, sophomore Jessica Woolfolk believes that they are working hard to evolve and find new ways to make the team even better than last year with the help of new swimmers. “I think this [season] will go pretty well; we lost some really great seniors which means that everyone is working harder to keep up with what they started, but as long as we keep working and aiming for the success for ourselves and our team,” Woolfolk said.

If this season is anything like last year, the swimmers are in for a successful season. “Most everyone swam [their] best times at the districts meet,” Coach John Ruzicka said. “[We] had a pretty large team go to the state meet.” With all the great accomplishments at the state meet last year, there is a lot of pressure to do just as well this season. Coach Ruzicka has high hopes for the team this year with the help of new freshman swimmers and the returning sophomores, making the team even stronger this season and the seasons to come.

Some big strengths of the team aren’t all necessarily how they do in the pool but how they come together as a whole and build each other up to make each and every swimmer better. “As a team we never give up at practice and together. [We] fight through the hard parts. We all get along well and enjoy being around each other creating good team chemistry; and I think this is one of our greatest aspects of the team,” senior Skyler Snook said. Along with wanting to do great on the meets to come, is the desire to continue to advance and build their physical strength and mental stamina to achieve their personal and team goals throughout the year.  With all the practice they’ve done since day one, the team has high hopes for what the rest of the season holds for them.