Dragon Swim team is continuing its streak of greatness. The first swim meet of the season was held Sept. 19, in Tyler, Texas.
“I’m very excited, some of our freshmen have a lot of potential,” Head Coach Carrie Scroggins said. “We had a lot of best times, and that’s not really typical this early in the season, so it makes me really excited about our future.”
Swim season will last through March, so the team still has the entirety of the season to look forward to. This first meet showed great potential for the team, and they have a bright future ahead of them.
“Yesterday’s meet gave me a lot of confidence in the team’s performance this season,” junior Madeline Richey said. “We all worked really hard, we pushed each other to do better, and we were just super encouraging of everyone.”
The swim team has about 51 members. Of the swimmers, 33 are returning competitors including all ten seniors, 17 juniors, and six sophomores.
“I think we have a really strong team, it’s a very big team,” senior Ryan Bowyer said. “Everyone on the team works really hard, and we’ve got a new district so I think we have a really good chance of winning district and moving further on to regionals and state.”
Swimmers of the meet were senior Gavin Whitaker and freshman Kyra Blackmon. Sophomore Livia Whitaker broke a meet record for the second year.
“I didn’t know I broke a meet record at first,” Livia said. “We were on the bus, my coach was looking at the times, she told me, and I was just kind of like oh, okay, cool.”
Although two meet records were broken, the team did not break any school records on Thursday. However, the coaches predict this will happen soon.
“We have some school records in mind. Madeline Richey plays a huge part in the 400 free relay,” Scroggins said. “Junior, Grant Copen is chasing the boys’ 100 breaststroke record, and I think he’s got a great shot at that.”
The girls’ swim team placed first overall, while the boys took home second place overall. Swimmers and coaches are excited and optimistic about the team’s potential based on their performance.
“This meet made me feel a lot more confident about the season,” junior Pepper Hill said. “It gave me a lot of reassurance that we’ll do well this season, and I’m excited to see what the team can do.”
