The Lady Hornets opened up the swim season placing fourth, with 249 points at a meet at Bishop Park Nov. 13. The Hornets tied for second with 315 points.
The outcome of a meet swings on the results of an individual’s time. A bad time from one swimmer can offset the success of the entire team.
“You have to sacrifice a lot of your time. I’ve been swimming for 14 years. Most of my spare time is in swimming and working,” senior Ploy Freebairn said. “You have to be really patient.”
Freebairn led the team’s win Dec. 4, taking first in the 200-yard individual medley, the 500 freestyle
and contributing to the 200 freestyle relay. The Lady Hornets accumulated 511 points beating out the competition at Bishop Park. The Hornets also won first with 485.5 points.
Time reduction is constantly on the minds of swimmers.
“The most important part of it to me isn’t necessarily beating other people, but just dropping time and just getting faster personal records,” junior Ray Weldon said.
Those faster personal records contribute to the overall score.
Sophomore Ellie Hooton is well versed in the ways of reducing time, swimming since she was 3-years-old.
“I just sprint, kick harder, pull deeper, stretch my body, breathe less,” she said.
Hooten placed eighth in the 100 backstroke, adding points at the meet Dec. 4.
Others, like Weldon, work on time by reducing water resistance by wearing tight suits and shaving hair. These factors, as well as difficult practices, awarded the Lady Hornets and Hornets a win Nov. 20. Lady Hornets with 591 points. Hornets, 491 points.
But sometimes a team or individual doesn’t experience great success even after hours of practice.
“You can practice for hours and swim thousands of yards and there can be one thing you forget in a race and you still won’t cut time,” Weldon said. “You’ll forget to kick your legs fast enough or you don’t turn fast enough and all of those hours go to waste.”
However, as long as the swim team continues to train with the intensity that has enabled them to turn out these past few wins, a district or state meet win is well within the realms of possibility.
“There are no coaches to shorten the distance of the race, no parents to mend bruised egos and no teammates to make up for your lack of effort,” Hooten said. “The distance is constant, the time absolute. No one else can swim the race.”
