By Samantha Gross
Elm Staff Writer
While pretty much everyone else on campus was sleeping this past Saturday morning, the swim team under head coach, Kim Lessard and assistant coaches Mark Yankovich and Robin Glaser, was competing in their annual triathlon for Relay for Life. Comprised of a 1,000 yard swim (that’s 40 laps in the pool), a ten mile bike ride, and a one-and-a-half mile run, the race takes a little over an hour if you’re fast, close to ninety minutes if you’re not.
This triathlon occurs every year for the swim team, usually falling on the weekend about a week after the start of their season. To prepare, they split their practices between swimming and either biking or running in the preceding week. Still, when it comes time to leave the pool for a chilly bike ride, most swimmers are still not fully prepared. This year was no easier than before, with cool morning temperatures and gray skies. “But,” says Coach Kim Lessard, “for the first time in a while, all thirty currently active swimmers competed and finished the race entirely, from the four freshman girls holding hands and finishing the run over the bridge together to the top three girl and boy winners.”
This years’ winners include: for the girls, senior Morgan Phillips, junior Sarah Sykes, senior Mary Stroman, and for the boys, sophomore Tad Derricks, freshman Greg Lee, and senior Nick Longworth. Stay tuned for more as the first meet of the season, the Maroon & Black Meet, is three weekends away on Saturday, October 22!