On Feb. 22, the girls swim team went to Class 1 State meet and placed 24th against 41 teams. Junior Breanna Wilkenson finished 4th in the 100 butterfly event, and was the one who was only three hundredths of a second from her school record. Leading up to the competition, there were many preparations taken to ensure that the team were in their best state of mind and physically well-trained. Head coach Luc Benson said that he has prioritized good habits for his students even before state.
“We reviewed some common competitive swim skills leading up to state: starts, turns, etc.. We discussed controlling the things we can control such as healthy eating habits, sleeping times, and stress management,” Benson said.
Wilkenson has been on the swim team since she was a freshman and this will have been her third time qualifying for State. She said that the competitions have become less thrilling for her.
“The [competitions are] kind of the same. I think because I’ve been doing it since my freshman year, it isn’t as exciting as it used to be, or I’m just more used to it now,” Wilkenson said.
During the meet, there were a lot of close calls especially during the final competitions. However, the team still competed well and had some good times. Benson said that the team has been working hard both on and off season to build and maintain the energy for the next season as well.
“As we look forward to next year, we will be focusing early in the season on getting a relay to the State finals. We will focus on building our strength and endurance throughout the season so we are prepared for Conference and State,” Benson said.
For Wilkenson and many other girls on the team, this meet was more challenging than the rest due to the sickness floating around during second semester. Due to this, Wilkenson felt less prepared than she wanted to since she had to rest for some time in order to allow her body to reset.
“Like in the beginning of January and February, a lot of us got sick from swimming and like I got the flu. So I wasn’t as prepared as I wished I could be because I had to take some time off because I was sick,” Wilkenson said.
There were a total of 41 schools during the States meet and many of the other competitors were well-established and were familiar with our team. Wilkenson said.
However, for Wilkenson it also comforted her knowing that all these girls were also qualified and also worked hard for their positions in the competition.
“But I think just knowing that everybody who’s there has earned their place is like something that helps me feel better about it,” Wilkenson said.
She hopes that next year when she’s captain, the team can also participate in more team bonding activities and outings since the team focused a lot on practice this year and it can better the relationships between the teammates.
“Hopefully next year, me and Clara Budge will be the captains. So we want to plan more like team outings and stuff like that,” Wilkenson said.
