The girls swim season has started the beginning of this month. Their first meet was Monday, November 7th, and so far, the girls have a team full of new swimmers.

Senior Jessica Dillon, who has been on the swim team for 3 years and is now starting her 4th year and final season, sees a promising future for the swim team.

“Most, if not all of the freshman and newer swimmers seem as if they are going to stay and not quit, which is exciting.” said Dillon.

As the senior swimmers, who have been on the team since their freshman year, are moving onto to graduating and thinking about college, growth for the swim team is important to them.

“We have a ton of new girls which is great. It means the team is growing.” said Dillon.

The swim team predicts which team will be their most difficult opponent and trains even harder in preparation. The girls do weights 3 times a week to get up their strength and be ready to push their way through the water and to first place.

“We’re looking out for any of the Lee’s Summit teams or Blue Springs. To prepare to beat these schools we practice a ton. We work really hard on technique, while also on sprinting and endurance.” said Dillon.

Being on a high school sports team and competing is way to strengthen friendships or meet new students.

“My favorite part of our team is the vibe the girls bring to practice every day. Sure, we complain a lot to Coach but we’re always in a joking mood. I think laughing, having fun, and making memories are the most important parts of a high school team sport.” said Dillon.

There are different roles to be played on a swim team. One of the roles that can be filled diving. This year there are 6 divers on the team.

Senior Aubry Hamrick, has been swimming for 2 years and diving for 3. She has been a part of the girls swim team for 3 years.

“Our diving team for this year has grown from previous years. We used to only have two divers but now we have six.” said Hamrick.

The training done for swimming is different than the training done for diving. The divers practice at 8 p.m at the Belton Wellness center, while the swimmers practice right after school at the Harrisonville Recreation Center.

“We have a different set of warm-ups and stretches since diving uses different muscles than swimming. Instead of having a set schedule of workouts to do during practice, like in swim, we do a warm up and then go through the list of dives that we are capable of and either move on or work on one specific dive.” said Hamrick.

There are different dives and techniques that divers must practice. The divers have to power through many different dives in order to master them all.

“Basically, if we do a dive really well the first time, we might have to do it 1-2 more times and then move on so that we can start working on more difficult dives.” said Hamrick.

The girls swim team are confident that they will make it to state as a team, and also as individuals for different strokes and dives.