Swimmers Dive Into Preseason
Photo courtesy of Micah Metzel via http://redmetzphotography.smugmug.com/
October 29, 2014
Since fall sports have come to a close, Susquehannock swimmers have started preparing for their upcoming winter season.
With an impending first meet at Dover on December 6, it’s imperative for swimmers to hone in their skills during preseason. Preseason began on September 3 and will run until the beginning of the official season on November 17.
Junior Megan Keuler chose to participate in preseason, so she could begin improving for the actual season early.
“Last year I didn’t do preseason, and I didn’t drop as much time as I would have liked,” said Keuler. “The people who did do preseason had really good times by the end of the season, and I really want to lower my times.”
Some students even participated in a summer program at the YMCA with Coach Brian Wingert, the coach of three seasons and Susquehannock science teacher, to continue training for the school season. The summer session is technique-based and spends two weeks on each stroke with another two weeks for other fundamentals.
A meeting was held Friday, October 24 to give students information about the upcoming season and what it means to be on the swim team.
Senior Mark Freidhoff has been a part of the swim team for all four years of his high school career to carry on the tradition that his two older brothers began.
“[My favorite part of being on the team] is the aftermath of a practice,” said Freidhoff. “[I say to myself] ‘Yes, I managed to do all that!’”
In the previous years, the team has had many students make it to districts. For example, last year, nine plus girls and ten plus boys qualified for the districts meet.
With twelve seniors from last year graduated, the rest of the team needs to step up to fill their shoes. Despite that, Wingert is looking forward to beginning the season especially because of some reshuffling in the league due to the addition of Gettysburg.
“I expect a lot of good races,” said Wingert. “[There’s] a lot of competition… and opportunity to push ourselves.”
Like Wingert, students are starting to get excited to swim in meets against other schools and spend time with friends during practices.
“I enjoy all of the personalities of all the people on the team,” said Keuler. “We’re all really close to each other, so it makes practice really fun.”
Though joining the swim team can be a good way to spend time with friends, members are setting big goals for the season.
“I want to make it to states,” said Freidhoff. “[I also want to improve on] my butterfly technique.”
As the season gets closer, swimmers prepare for hard work in order to meet Wingert’s expectations of working hard and building on improvements.
