ON THE GO IN H20

May 4, 2012
Filed under Sports

The swim team is off to a good start this season.

“The swim team is doing great right now,” said sophomore Stuart Samoville. “We haven’t lost a single league meet this season.”

The team is doing well despite the obstacles it has faced this year.

“Many of the juniors and seniors quit, so our team has a majority of freshmen and sophomores, many of whom are not swimming varsity,” said sophomore Alec Anderson.

The team has been working hard this year. At a typical practice, the swimmers start out with a 400 freestyle, then move onto other sets.

“We usually swim laps back and forth across the pool,” said Samoville, whose favorite race is the 200 free and whose best stroke is the freestyle. “On some lucky days our coaches Chris and Tyson try to make it fun by asking us trivia questions or by letting us swim against each other in relays.”

The coaches also try to mix up the routines so the swimmers can practice all races and strokes.

“The coach makes us do different stuff every day,” said sophomore Will Sieving.

At one practice, the swimmers had to do their warm up, then three 600s, five 200s (50 breast, 50 free, then repeat), followed by twelve 100 freestyles.

At the meets, most swimmers only spend a couple minutes actually racing. “We spend a lot of time hanging out and cheering for each other,” said Anderson.

Sieving, who has been swimming for three years but just joined Rio’s swim team this spring, says that swimming is challenging but rewarding.

“It’s always fun to try to test your limits at the meets,” he said. “Although they can be exhausting, all the hard work pays off.”

Sieving’s favorite stroke is freestyle, and his favorite race is the 50 free.

“I like freestyle because it’s the fastest stroke,” he said. “It makes you feel like a fish.”

Anderson, who is on the varsity team, is best at the 100 free with a 54.29 seconds as his personal best.