Girls' Swimming Crushes Milton Academy
Exeter varsity girls’ swimming performed well against Milton Academy during a meet at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. During the first event, which was a 200 meter medley relay, Exeter got off to a strong start and placed in 1st and 2nd. According to lower Issy Wise, this win inspired confidence in the rest of the swimmers and gave a boost of momentum which they used to their advantage. “[We] swam really fast for the rest of the meet’s events,” Wise said.
Big Red’s performance was not easily achieved, as the team had to put a two-week pause on their high-intensity practices because of winter vacation. However, according to Wise, the swimmers have put in their best effort during every practice. “It paid off during our meet because we had some great swims,” Wise explained. Senior and co-captain Emily LaRovere also pointed out that some of the major weaknesses of Milton allowed for swimmers to switch up their events and swim strokes they normally didn’t.
LaRovere also detailed the disadvantages Exeter faced. The pool at the University of Massachusetts in Boston was very different than the one at the Love Gym. According to LaRovere, the entire pool was only four feet deep, making it hard for divers to get a strong commencement. Since the starting blocks were the size of kick boards, it was difficult to start successfully and not scrape the bottom. However, Exeter was able to rise to the occasion. “Our divers stepped up big for us,” LaRovere said. “We were able to bring up a few members from JV to dive.” Upper Maddie Shapiro described the adaptation of each diver as being able to “dive flatter,” which boosted their times and lead the team to win more events. “We had to practice our starts during warm ups because the pool was really shallow, but we had some great starts during their races, which led to fast times,” Shapiro explained.
“We had to practice our starts during warm ups because the pool was really shallow, but we had some great starts during their races, which led to fast times.”
LaRovere also credited some of the team’s success to the support from one another and the crowd. “There was lots of cheering for one another because we were swimming different events,” she explained.
Lower Elizabeth Williams was a particularly important swimmer, winning the 200 meter individual medley and the 100 yard freestyle, two events which are not usually in Williams’ repertoire. “They were both great swims,” Shapiro said. Lower Samantha Gove won the 200 meter freestyle, as well as the 500 meter freestyle races. Lower Tina Wang also won the 50 yard freestyle with the fast time of 25.99 seconds.
Many of the girls agreed that the 200 yard freestyle relay was also the highlight of the meet. Williams and LaRovere were both able to outdo the top Milton relay swimmers. All three swimmers on each respective relay team finished the last leg of the race within half a second of one another. This was especially valuable because relays are worth more points than individual events. Therefore, Big Red extended its already considerable margin to seize victory.
Big Red will face Deerfield in their next competition on Jan. 14. LaRovere remains confident in Exeter’s ability, but emphasized that the opponent is a worthy rival. “Deerfield is a really strong team,” she said. “They won overall last year, so we are excited to get down there, but it’s going to be a tough meet.”
Shapiro described her hopes for future practices, stressing the importance of focusing in order to further individual performances. Exeter will also compete against the Dana Hill School on Jan. 25 and Choate Rosemary Hall on Jan. 28. Big Red plans on going into each meet with a strong mentality of team chemistry, concentration and bringing forth the best from every swimmer.