The second meet of the 2018 girls’ swim and dive team season will take place on Thursday Dec. 14, where the team will compete against Hickman, Battle, Belton, Sedalia, Warrensburg, Marshall, Harrisonville, Camdenton, Parkview, Springfield Catholic, and Summit Preparatory high schools in Sedalia.
Tomorrow’s meet will be the second meet of the season for the lady bruins swim and dive team, with the first meet being at the Marquette relays. Sophomore swimmer Macy Montie plans to use the new start to the season as an opportunity to swim in a new event, the 500 meter freestyle.
“I [decided to] swim the 500 meter [freestyle] so that I [could] expand my options for events to swim in,” Montie said. “One [event] that I am [already] strong in is the 100 meter butterfly, but I [also] need to work on my upper body strength so I can get through a 100 [meter] of butterfly and finish it off [by dropping] some seconds off of my butterfly.”
Head coach Taylor Birsa has emphasized on establishing the techniques of the swimmers, and specifically plans to focus on the out times of the swimmers for the meet tomorrow. Confident with the strength of her swimmers due to their experience, Birsa intends to place a lot of girls in different events at the meet in order to challenge them.
“We have a strong senior class returning for their final year [to lead the team] and had a relay meet a couple weeks ago that allowed us to get our first meet jitters out of the way,” Birsa said. “This will be our first meet with more individuals, which is so fun for the girls to race. We hope this gets the excited to race and want to continue racing throughout the season.
In preparation for the meet, Birsa pressed the girls to accept feeling some pain and continue to swim fast. By doing this, Birsa can then analyze which areas the team is lacking and what each individual athlete needs to focus on.
“The girls will [also] have to think about face strategy and all of the rules we went over and swim fast,” Birsa said. “We don’t want any disqualifications this meet, and I hope that this will start [the] season off in the best way.”
Sophomore swimmer Erin Koller believes the season started well with the Marquette relays. She notices daily improvement, which only makes the team stronger and more developed. Koller believes a unified team on Thursday will allow them to win at the meet.
“This Thursday we will rely on our teammates to push us while swimming,” Koller said. “No matter if you are the best person on the team or if you have never swam before, you will be supported every time you hit the water. [We] will win the match at Sedalia and Marshall if we push ourselves and work together as a team.”