Students athletes excited for new season of swim team after missing out last year

The winter season of the swim team is quickly approaching, students are both nervous and excited to get back in the water and get their feet wet after not having a season last year.

     Senior Riley O’Hare is hopeful for a good season where “it’s going to be great to have everybody back together since we weren’t able to swim last year.” Covid has had a huge impact on the team, but for the upcoming season the precautions are in place but minimal. There has been a decrease in the number of students that can join the team from 40 students to 30 students.

     Junior Maggie Layman explains her concern with this Covid protocol. “It’s going to be a lot harder to join the team, but I am hopeful going into tryouts.”  The tryouts were held at North Harford Middle School’s pool after school on November 15. Senior Madison Winn suspects that “not a lot of people will try out because it’s not possible to wear a mask while swimming so people may not be comfortable with that.”

     During the season the team participates in meets where they race their best events to beat other swimmers and create new personal best times. There are four types of strokes that are competed in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Layman said, “my biggest strength would be my best stroke, which is breaststroke, my biggest weakness would be butterfly.” Winn agrees, “breaststroke would be my strength and backstroke would be my biggest weakness.”

     “The rough meet schedule has been created and dates are already put in place for the most part,” Explained Layman. Winn’s main goal for the upcoming season is “I want to do good during the meets and hopefully make it to regionals and states this year.”

     All Harford County High Schools have a swim team, but there are only three school pools in the county. North Harford is lucky to get the first practice at the middle school pool. Layman explains, “for the middle school pool the deep end is made in the middle of the pool so in order to practice diving we have to stop swimming or go to another pool to practice which is pretty inconvenient.”

     O’Hare believes the hardest part of the upcoming season will be “definitely getting back into swimming and staying focused and not getting distracted during practice.”