The Swim team recently traveled to Texarkana for the annual competition Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) meet. TISCA, which took place on Nov 17-18, is a qualifying meet, which means only swimmers who meet the trial times are eligible to go. The swim team took 26 athletes, which is about half the team. Swimmers of the meet were Jack Stafford and Livia Whitaker.
“My favorite part of being on the swim team is probably the people,” Stafford said. “We’re really close, and we have a lot of fun together.”
Stafford started in 7th grade with the middle school swim program, led by the high school head coach, Carrie Scroggins. He loves swimming because it challenges him, and allows him to push himself in practices and meets. His favorite swim memory is going to state competition because everyone was calm and he had good times with the coaches.
“I love being able to swim with this amazing team,” Whitaker said. “We’re all really supportive of each other, and I love the friendships I have made.”
Whitaker has been swimming since she was 8. She started swimming when she would go to the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) with her mom so her mom could workout, and there was a pool that she one day just started swimming in. Her favorite swim memory is the time she went to a meet at the University of Texas in Austin with one of her coaches.
“TISCA is always the first chance we get to see the team travel and carry themselves in a different way in regards to which team members are at the meet,” assistant swim coach Derek Theiss said. “We have a little bit more of a competitive edge because of that, so I really enjoy watching our top-end performers do what they’re good at.”
TISCA is a great place for all aquatic athletes to hone their skills and compete. Xilone Puffer, a senior and the only diver on the swim team went to TISCA for diving.
“I’m really proud that I scored at TISCA,” Puffer said. “It was my first time diving in an 11-dive meet and so the fact that I scored let me see my progress from the past year and a half.”
Every swimmer that went with the team advanced to the second day’s competition. Although not all of them placed at the end of day two, the fact that they all made it to the second day is impressive.
“Every single person that came to TISCA finaled and made it to the second day, which is a really big deal for the number of people we brought to TISCA,” senior Emma Welsh said. “I’m super proud of all of them and the amazing things they did.”
The swimmers gave it their all, and it paid off. The girls placed 3rd overall, and the boys placed 4th overall.
“I’m really proud of myself because I gave it my all and made it to the second day, in all of my events,” sophomore Sophie Willardson said. “Even though it was hard, I pushed through and did well.”
Even though the team is at TISCA for competition, they spend much of their time at TISCA together, bonding with each other.
“TISCA is always a great time for team bonding outside of the pool and it’s never really about the times,” Welsh said. “It’s more about how much as a team we get closer and support each other.”
