Defeating the Ursuline Bears in their second meet of the season, the girls swim team seized a 120-64 win on Dec. 14.
Junior Abby Wampler said this meet went particularly well for her, as she not only improved her times but obtained State qualifications for her events.
“The events I saw at the meet on Monday were the 100 back and the 200 IM. Both events went well. In the 200 IM I did improve my time from the previous meet which better improved my State time, ranking me first in the State for the Class 1 division which was pretty exciting,” Wampler said. “In the 100 back, I went a best time ever and qualified in that race for State as well which was pretty cool.”
For the 100 back, Wampler swam a time of 1:01.85 and a time of 2:13.50 for the 200 individual medley. She said in addition to her events the team came out strong during their relays.
“I was proud of my teammates on both the relays: the 200 medley and 400 freestyle. I was also really happy and proud of our team as this was our second win of the season against Ursuline. Everyone swam well and tried their best and after all the hard work that we have been doing in practices, it has paid off and shown in how our team is performing in the water at these dual meets,” Wampler said.
For the 200 medley, Wampler swam alongside junior Lydia Wiseman, junior Riley VanCardo, and sophomore Jenny Reiter to earn a time of 2:08.78. The 400 freestyle relay consisted of Wampler, Reiter, sophomore Matia Puljic, and senior Maddie Powers, which came in at a time of 4:20.75. Coach Lucas Benson said while the team is still determining which athletes will swim for certain events, the success of this meet was beneficial for the Falcons.
“It was a good meet for us. We were able to get some good competition as it was our second meet of the season. We are early in the competitive season, so we are still working out where our strengths lie in the various competitive events,” Benson said.
Wampler said she is proud to have obtained two automatic State cuts so early in the season and has set her goals high for the rest of the season.
“It feels pretty cool to have two automatic State cuts. I will say I did not think that I would have the 100 back cut, but I was excited once I saw that time as I was also pretty close to the school record in that event as well. That is one of my goals this year as well, to break the 100 back record,” Wampler said.
