By Virgil Smithey
Elm Staff Writer
According to previous Elm coverage, the Shoremen and Shorewomen seniors wrap up their regular season, leaving the team to continue looking ahead.
For the Shorewomen swim team, freshmen Juila Banker and Brooke Bailey seem to be promising candidates, as they both have set the 200 backstroke record in preliminaries during their midseason meet.
“I had no idea that I had actually broken it. It was not something that was on my radar, and I walked over to my teammates and coaches who were jumping up and down who then told me that I had just broken the record…It’s pretty exciting to have a good start to the season. It makes me excited for the rest of the season and the rest of my years swimming,” Bailey said.
Banker and Bailey have also taken home Shorewoman of the Week awards in their first season, including sharing the award on Nov. 25.
“It was amazing not only for my own personal goals but also for the team. I couldn’t have done it without having them by my side. This team has truly been everything and more from what I could’ve imagined,” Banker said. “One of my favorite memories from breaking the record was getting out of the pool and seeing Zach Tipton, Ayana Davis, Kenzie Gorman, and Sarah Foglia right there, hugging, and screaming for me…Being alongside Brooke and us both breaking records made us grow a strong bond.”
Senior Ayana Davis has shared her personal answers with how the season has been going so far, as well as her personal goals for her final Conference meeting.
“I think the season has gone very well. The team’s aspirations to push through tough practices and the results of such have had some amazing swims and shattered records,” Davis said. “Going into my last conference, my goal is to just have fun and cheer on my teammates.”
This season has been stressful but also exciting for the Shorewomen swim team. As the seniors make the most out of their last season and the freshmen follow in their footsteps, there should be no doubt that the women’s swim team has a great future ahead of them.
Banker shared a bit of insight on how the Centennial Conference Champs preparations has been looking so far.
“We’ve been preparing all season for this meet, but I think it’s almost crunch time now,” Banker said. “We had our training trip in early January and since then, we’ve had challenging practices…We start tapering next week as a team and really started getting ready for our meet.”
The Shorewomen will have Centennial Conference swimming championships starting on Feb. 20 and will go until Feb. 23 in Lancaster, Pa.
Photo by Selena Francese.
Photo Caption: Shorewomen prepare for Centennial Conference Championships, which start on February 20.