Girls’ Swimming Soundly Defeats Loomis Chaffee

Exeter girls’ swimming dominated Loomis Chaffee this past Saturday with a score of 104-79. Despite Loomis’ home-pool advantage, Big Red beat them out with wins in almost every event.Loomis’ pool is 25 meters as opposed to Exeter’s 25 yards, and during their previous meet against Choate, this conversion showed problems for Exeter. Swimming a few extra strokes each lap could quickly fatigue the swimmers, and it proved detrimental to them a few weeks ago. This time, however, they were prepared. “Our girls adjusted really well,” co-captain and senior Stajz Saar said.Saar said that the team was also better prepared due to increased intensity in practice. She felt that the high yardage in the weeks leading up to Loomis set them up well for this competitive meet. “We’ve been training really hard the past couple of weeks, so having completed some challenging practices definitely increased our confidence,” she said.Prep Christine Baker agreed that the challenging practices were helpful, but also pointed out that many of the girls went into the meet tired. “We have been training really hard in practice and came into the meet tired but prepared,” she said. “We competed and matched up really well with the Loomis swimmers. There were a lot of close races.”

“This meet was different from the rest because our team really rallied.”

Co-captain and senior Olivia Reed said that Exeter’s determination was what gave them an edge. “We went into the meet thinking it would be very even competition in the events, and it was, but our girls had really strong finishes to the wall,” she said. She said that the tough practices had a sizable impact on times and stamina during the meet, and that the team’s hard training was really paying off.She continued to say that the team had to rally further due to some illnesses and missing swimmers. “It really put pressure on the other girls, but everyone rose to the occasion and delivered their best, which is all we can ask for,” she said.Saar, though under the weather, swam in four events and finished first in the 100-meter breaststroke. “It was inspiring to see her push through when she really wasn’t feeling well,” lower Maddie Shapiro said.Reed said that the team’s support for one another peaked this week. “This meet was different from the rest because our team really rallied,” she said. “Everyone was so tired and it was a very long bus ride, so keeping up the energy was hard, but we really overcame those challenges and supported each other.”Big Red’s next meet will be held at home on Feb. 20 against Andover at 2 p.m. Exeter’s record currently sits at 5-3, and Andover’s is currently 4-1. Andover is notoriously a tough meet for Exeter, but the girls feel confident that their hard work gives them a good shot at a win.“[Andover is] some of our most difficult competition in the league, and it would be great to see us win. I think we will really be peaking in our training at that point and can expect some good swims,” Reed said.Saar showed similar optimism for the upcoming meet against Big Blue. “They’re always a strong team, but I’m confident that we’ll give it our all and, hopefully, come out on top,” she said.