Swim The Extra Mile

Swim The Extra Mile

They’re swimming in work at school, but it’s time for them to jump in the pool and swim the extra mile.

LHS’s girls’ swim team has been swimming like mermaids during their season, amounting to a 5 to 2 win streak and most swimmers surpassing their best times recently at COMO, a tournament in Columbia, Missouri.

“It was really good,” junior Hannah Schrag said. “I think I’d say it was our meet of the season so far and almost across the board everybody was dropping time and everybody on the team did

personal bests, it was awesome.”

From day one, the goal has been to make it to the second day at State, which is the top 16 in Missouri. The girl’s swim team has made it to State every year but the last time they made it to the second day of State was in 2013.

In the wake of their resurgence of success this year, swimming coach Chris Murphy has plans for prepping for another victory at State.

“I want to keep improving through the end of the season,” Murphy said. “Many of the girls just had lifetime bests at the meet in Columbia and I want to build upon that. I don’t want to just rest on that and have those be our fastest times of the

year.”

Many students would typically complain about the lengthy and strenuous practices but some find it calming or therapeutic and let the water carry their worries away.

“For me, I enjoy the sport a lot, so going to practices after school is a stress reliever,” Schrag said. “It helps me take my mind off of school and any drama or anything and so it’s a great way to stay in shape and stay healthy but also a great sport to get your mind off things.”

The team takes the mantra “there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’” passionately and with no room for dispute. Whereas some sports are purely either a team sport or an individual one, competitive swimming is the in-between sport where one can place

exclusively or with their team in a relay.

“In high school swimming everyone really supports each other. I think sometimes that’s even more important than the times,” junior Shea Williams said. “It’s just being supportive and everyone cheering each other on. It’s individual but also still a team thing, which I love because I’m kind of an individual person but then I love coming together for relays and swimming with my teammates.”

A few reasons that this season has been so successful include new freshman talent, a revival of energy and the strong sense of community and support on the team.

“I think we have a great team dynamic and a great bond outside of the pool as well as inside the pool and I definitely think that reflects in our times,” Schrag said.

One swimmer stated that one of the best aspects of swimming is seeing the cause and effect of all their hard work being paid off. For swimming, no change will miraculously happen if there’s no change in time and effort put into the pool.

“It’ll be great,” Murphy said. “It’s something that we’re focused on. We don’t want to go out there to State just to make the trip. We want to go and be a force. We want to have both relays and individuals

swim at finals. When that happens we’re

going to be very satisfied.”

For the goal of achieving a personal best and swimming at State to take root,

the swimmer first need to answer to themselves, “why do I swim?”

“I swim for myself,” Schrag said. “I set my goals and then I accomplish them. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment whenever I can set my individual goals at the beginning of the season and I keep pushing through it and then I see those results at the end of the season. It’s very rewarding and accomplishing.”