After a season full of winning athletes, broken individual and school records, and hard work, the swim and dive teams season comes to an end.
While many athletes walk away with a sense of accomplishment and another strong season finished, six students have the opportunity to compete at the state level for a chance to earn a state title.
“I’m really excited, it’s really exciting,” said freshman Vivie Murphy, 7-time school record holder for the Tennessee Vikings Swim team.
The athletes have been training consistently, most recently by practicing with race-pace laps and “tapering” a method where “practices get easier and easier, until the meet, so we just go faster,” swimmer Simon Hutchinson said.
Senior Simon Hutchinson will be attending state for the 3rd time in a row this season and will be competing the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. HIs goal is “to make consolation, which is top sixteen in the state. Usually there are about fifty-sixty people in [his] event.” Hutchinson said.
Similar to Hutchinson, senior Eden Alsbrook, who qualified in the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly, has qualified for State before. State will be familiar territory, as this is her fourth time attending; however, her passion for the sport only began after a different passion was forced to end.
“My freshman year, I tore part of my achilles. So then I started swimming because of physical therapy,” Alsbrook said. “I did good my freshman and sophomore year, but last year I had the flu.”
However, for others, such as Brodyn Murphy, his first year at a new school in an entirely different state resulted in a new experience for him. He qualified in the 500 freestyle and 200 IM.
“[Vivie and I] just moved from Missouri, and I swam there last year,” Murphy said. “I’ve never been to State, so I just have no clue [what it’s like]. I think it’ll be fun.”
Another first-time qualifier is junior Zoe Hale, who qualified in the 200 IM, an event “[she has] been trying to qualify in for the past two years,” Hale said. While she personally cannot attend state due to dance team nationals, she has confidence in her fellow teammates and looks forward to them competing.
“I think Vivie Murphy will do really [well]. I think she’ll make it to finals in both of the events that she’s wanting to swim there.” Hale said.
Similar to her older brother, Brodyn, freshman Vivie Murphy is new to the idea of the state meet in Tennessee. However, her dedication to her sport and positive mindset has allowed Murphy to achieve her core goals this year.
“My goals were to make State, keep dropping time, and have fun with it,” Vivie Murphy said.
Alongside these swimmers, first-year diver Joshua Hooker will be competing at the state meet as well. By successfully completing two six-dive meets and one eleven-dive meet, his first year of his sport ended up with a ticket to the biggest meet of the season.
“During my down time, I enjoy watching dive meets, so I can get an idea of what my dives should look like and what I need to do to make them better. I feel confident because I know I have spectacular coaches and an amazing team supporting me. ” Hooker said.
Overall, each swimmer’s dedication and hard work has paid off as they have reached their greatest goal of the season. The qualified athletes, coached by Head Coach Katie Sword, will compete at the state meet February 6-7 in Nashville, TN as their final meet of the season.
“I think it was a pretty big accomplishment because [we] worked for it all season. It shows that if you work hard, anything can happen,” Brodyn Murphy said.
