Swim Spotlight

Senior+Karmen+Hales%2C+swimming+the+100-meter+breaststroke.+Photo+courtesy+of+Emma+Mayne.

Senior Karmen Hales, swimming the 100-meter breaststroke. Photo courtesy of Emma Mayne.

The girl’s swim and dive team has already started to make waves this season. The team began practicing in mid-November and is looking forward to a great season. They have an unbreakable bond that is recognized by players and coaches alike, “Swim and dive created a bond between all of us to the point that we’re basically like a family,” senior Emilie St.George said. Since the beginning of the season, the team has been practicing non-stop and had 4 meets so far, with their next meet coming up this Friday, December 17th. The main focus throughout every meet is beating their personal records. The team does high-intensity practices until about halfway through their season where they begin to lighten up in order to better compete in their final meets. “They’ll work us really hard the next couple of weeks until our mid-season meet when we will taper. Tapering means we cut down on hours of practice and go easy so that we are rested for our mid-season meet.” Ashlyn Moore said. A senior who now holds a school-record 200-meter freestyle.

Moore has been swimming throughout most of her life but didn’t join the Kickapoo team until her sophomore year. “I think being a part of a high school team is a great opportunity to represent my school,” Moore said. Swimming has taught her lessons both in and outside of the pool that help her work towards her goal of being a collegiate swimmer. “Being on the team has taught me how to be a good teammate and that it is important to support each other,” Moore said. On December 3rd of this year, Moore broke the school record in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:56.79 from where it previously stood at 1:57.71. “Around May of this year I dropped a bunch of time and has been working to break 2 minutes for several months,” Moore said. The 200 freestyle is one of the six events Moore often competes in, and she hopes to exhibit the same success throughout the rest of her races. “I am close to breaking a few more so I am excited to see what comes from the rest of this season!” Moore said.