November 1 and 2, NC’s Swim and Dive team attended their first meet of the season, consisting of time trials for both individual events and relays. The meet took place at the Mountain View Aquatic Center with numerous other schools attending, including Hillgrove High School, Lassiter High School and Harrison High School. Because the meet served as a non-competitive event and took place merely for time trials, no teams won or lost. Regardless, several NC swimmers took it upon themselves to strive towards new personal records and forge a strong start to the season.
The NC Swim and Dive team earned a significant amount of new participants this school year, so this meet proved a superb opportunity for newbies to try out swimming competitively for the first time. New students already show significant progression, and the team thrives as the season jolts to a start. Although NC’s team consists of both swimmers and divers, the divers did not attend this meet due to the facility not owning a diving board. However, as soon as NC attends a meet at a pool with a diving area, divers will join their team and compete against other schools.
“I think the meet was very competitive, but in a good way. I was happy with how I did on my first event, but on my second and third, I realized I needed to make some improvements. My favorite event was my first one because I feel that I did well and exceeded my expectations. Overall, I learned to keep practicing and improving on my breathing since that’s one of the areas where I struggled during the meet,” junior Sophia Simon said.
Friday, November 1, NC swimmers completed individual events, including 200 Yard Freestyle, 200 Yard IM, 50 Yard Freestyle, 100 Yard Butterfly, 100 Yard Freestyle, 500 Yard Freestyle, 100 Yard Backstroke and 100 Yard Breaststroke. These events helped swimmers establish their starting times for the season and learn what events they enjoy and would like to focus on, as events can help swimmers strengthen their speed, endurance and confidence for future meets.
Saturday morning, swimmers completed challenging relay events, including 200 Yard Medley, 200 Yard Backstroke, 400 Yard Medley, 200 Yard Freestyle, 200 Yard Breaststroke, 200 Yard Butterfly and 400 Yard Freestyle. These relay events assisted the swimmers in growing closer to their teammates, as well as developing mutual trust and understanding for one another. The swim team gained valuable experience to carry toward future meets and new swimmers gained important knowledge to help them progress. With the help of this preliminary practice meet, students now possess the ability to perform better at upcoming meets.
“The swim meet was quite different than I expected, it was so loud but so much fun. I feel like instead of working on form I should work on my speed and endurance. My favorite event was the 200 Yard Coed Freestyle relay, I was swimming with different people with different skill levels and different speeds. And that was new for me but I really liked it and, I hope I get to compete in that event again. I learned that I need to be over-prepared and more mentally ready. I need to think and feel that I’m going to do well to actually get the results that I want,” magnet freshman Kalea Lumpkin said.
NC’s next meet, hosted by Campbell High School, will take place November 8 at Cobb Aquatic Center and students prove eager to show improvements based on what they learned from the first meet. Additionally, NC will host a meet November 16 and soon after attend a meet hosted by Pope High School December 7. The meet costs five dollars to enter for non-swimmers, with tickets available to anyone who wants to spectate. NC swimmers foster excitement for the season to come and hope to improve with every meet they attend.
