On the weekend of Jan. 18, the swim and dive team competed at the Northeast Tennessee Regional Championships, walking away with many awards and a renewed sense of teamwork.
“Everyone left proud of themselves, and that’s all I want.” said head coach Katie Sword. “I want them to be proud of themselves and know that they accomplished something.”
To prepare for the meet, the team did a week of workouts called “taper,” which is “where [the team goes] easier and easier on workouts to prepare for the meet and get better time,” said junior Simon Hutchinson.
As well as working physically to improve their sport, the team also tackled their mental game by doing a “mental one-hundred.”
“We visualize what a one-hundred yard swim would be like for each and every one of us,” said Hutchinson.So, you lay down, close your eyes, and think about how you would swim a one-hundred [in your event],” said Hutchinson.
The dive team took on a different approach: one of repetition. The diver “knows what dives [they] are gonna do, so [they] just practice those dives over and over again, get the form better, make it look prettier,” said senior Jonathan Helms.
On Friday, Jan. 17, divers took center stage, competing at their sector of the meet here at THS. Scoring is based on multiple different factors, including execution and difficulty.
“Each dive has a degree of difficulty, and the judges’ scores are multiplied by the degree of difficulty to get the score for that dive and then all the dive scores are added together,” said Helms.
At the end of the meet, Helms received first place for the boys, and seniors Georgia Simora and Brianna Clouse received second and third for the girls. All three divers qualified for the state meet this coming February.
Along with a successful dive regionals meet, the swim team competed the following day at the Kingsport Aquatic Center. After many races and relays, the entire swim and dive team came home with a new title and reward.
“We got second overall, which was unexpected,” said Sword. “Our boys did better than they were projected.”
In addition to the second overall win, many swimmers secured a new personal best time. One of them was senior Cayden Williams, who broke more than just his personal record.
“I broke a school record. I broke the time in the fifty freestyle,” said Williams, who will also be going to the state meet in early February.
After regionals, the team took the past couple of weeks to prepare the qualified swimmers for state. In a final effort to get as many athletes to the state meet as possible, the team hosted their “last chance” meet on Jan. 23, a tradition started by many years ago.
After regionals and this final meet, the following swimmers and divers have qualified for the state meet: Simon Hutchinson, Eden Alsbrook, Georgia SImora, Madison Manahan, Brianna Clouse, Jonathan Helms, and Cayden Williams.
The state meet will take place this weekend, Feb. 6-8, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
As the season comes to a close, the swim and dive teams leave this year feeling accomplished because of their hard work.
“I’m very proud that the kids that come are having a very full team experience and are friends and support each other,” said Sword.
