1/31 – Andover: 102, Deerfield: 83
Last Saturday, Girls Swimming & Diving competed in its first away match against Deerfield. Facing an 8-hour meet day and the unfamiliar pool, the team prevailed in a decisive victory. This win extended its undefeated win streak to 4–0. This meet was critical to the team, being the last meet before the team embarks on a trip to the four-day Easterns Championships (Easterns) in Pennsylvania, the most anticipated meet of the season happening in less than two weeks.
Even though most swim events are individual, team support plays a critical role in each swimmer’s performance. Madeleine Yang ’29, who placed fourth in the 100-Yard Backstroke, shared a personal experience on how the team’s spirit helped her at Deerfield.
“We all cheer for each other. If someone’s nervous, we all try to hype up the swimmers. I did the 100[-Yard] Fly and the 100[-Yard] Back[stroke]. But before the 100[-Yard] Fly, I was really nervous and didn’t know how I’d do in that event. Some of my upperclassmen teammates were also swimming in the 100[-Yard] Fly and they encouraged me, which made me feel a lot better after talking to them,”said Yang.
To prepare for this meet, the team continued working hard at practice, going beyond its usual weekday sessions. In the girls’ division, Chloe Ru ’27 placed first in the 200-Yard Medley Relay, 100-Yard Freestyle, and 100-Yard Breaststroke. Her team finished second in the Girls 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. Ru elaborated on the practice schedule last week to prepare for the meet.
“We had practice every day of the week from Monday to Friday, and because we didn’t have a meet last Saturday, we had practice on Saturday morning with the boys’ team, and we did a tough set. It’s called a lactate set, but it’s specifically targeted towards racing, which was really helpful. We also worked on a lot of techniques, like dives and turns, to prepare for [the meet],” said Ru.
Sarah Sun ’29 also elaborated on the importance of reinforcing the team atmosphere as the season progresses and how it helps her personally as she competes. Sun finished 1:21.10 in the 100-Yard Breaststroke, 2:37.24 in the 200-Yard Individual Medley. She also anchored the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay in 28.23 seconds. She explained that the team often cheers for each other behind the blocks when people are competing and how this personally gave her extra motivation to swim faster in her event.
“It’s helpful when I turn and see my teammates behind the blocks cheering for me, because it gives me more motivation. Overall, our team spirit at this meet was better than at any other meet. While not everyone was swimming their best times, everyone was cheering on their teammates behind the block, and we all did our team cheer. Overall, the Deerfield meet was a very supportive environment for our team,” said Sun.
Ru shouted out Advika Swamy ’29, who competed in her first Saturday match against Deerfield. Ru expanded on Swamy’s performance of 2:26.22 in the 200-Yard Freestyle.
“Someone I would shout out is Advika because this was her first Saturday meet. She did really well. Also, because it’s a dual meet, our coach put us in events we usually wouldn’t swim in to experiment and step outside our comfort zone. So those swimmers did well in their events, even though they might not usually swim them,” said Ru.
Looking forward, the team will travel to Pennsylvania to compete at Easterns in less than two weeks. Yang shared a final lesson that she learned competing against Deerfield and explained the team’s mindset moving forward.
“The biggest lesson is that it’s okay not to swim the best times, because, especially considering yesterday, we weren’t really used to the pool. It’s essential to stay optimistic and take something away from your swim, even if it wasn’t as good as you wanted. That’ll be really helpful for our [championship] meets as well. Deerfield was an end-of-season meet to prepare for Easterns and New Englands. Since we’re on a win streak and our team is undefeated, we’re feeling really good about going into Easterns,” said Yang.
