Girls’ Swimming Performs Well Despite Loss
Last Saturday, the girls’ varsity swim team made the long trip down to Suffield Academy. In the days leading up to the meet, the team anticipated that Suffield would prove a formidable opponent based off of their consistent successes in previous years. Though Exeter pulled through with a strong performance, they ultimately fell short to the powerful Suffield squad. The final score was 71-114.
Although the team lost the meet, there were many highlights. including lower Liz Williams’ impressive win in her 500 meter freestyle race. Collectively, the girls’ medley relay team, which consisted of prep Wynter Sands, lower Ashleigh Lackey, lower Heddy Parker and senior and co-captain Emily LaRovere, also swam remarkably fast. Describing the medley relay, LaRovere said that it “set the tone for our team because a bunch of our girls swam very fast. It also showed just how fast Suffield was.” Lower Christine Baker partially attributed the team’s loss to its limited preparation going into the meet. “I think Exeter did well under the situation of only training for five days before the meet. Since our Thanksgiving break goes longer than most other schools, we had less time to train as a team before the meet.” Baker went on to commend the team for maintaining a positive mindset and for its ability to put aside the disappointing result. “We went to the meet to compete and everyone did a good job keeping a positive mind set, even though the first meet of the season can result in slower times.”
Baker also praised the depth of the team this season. “Our team has a lot of good swimmers, which is really helpful for winning points in each event. Having several people who can get second or third place is sometimes better than having one person who can get first,” Baker said, explaining that at the end of the day, the score reflects how the entire team performed and not necessarily one individual.
Exeter’s determination and tough mentality will serve them well in its upcoming meets. It is important for the team to focus on the positive outcomes from this meet, rather than the disapointing score, and to learn from the challenges it faced. Looking ahead, Exeter now has a new rival for Interschols and knows what it is up against and how it needs to improve.
In the future, the girls hope to target their overall fitness in particular as a means of better perparing themselves for upcoming meets. LaRovere cited the importance of training over the acation to maintain the strength of the team. “I really hope that everyone will be able to find a pool and stay in shape.” With the same resilience and determination that Exeter brought to its meet against Suffield, the girls will continue to take every stroke seriously
Shortly after the girls return from break, they will swim against Greenwich Academy. The team remains optimistic and believes that, with proper conditioning, it will find success in meets to come. “It was great to see the girls show a lot of team spirit, and I know we can do better in the future,” senior and co-captain Catherine Huang said.