[quote]By Turner Smith
Editor-in-Chief
Photo by Jack Heerhold[/quote]

The girls’ swim program has managed to establish a dominant team identity at just the right time, as they enter the latter half of the season. As they prepare for the postseason, the program has taken confidence in their excellent results in relay events.

The program has sent two relay groups to state for the last four years, and in all likelihood, will do so again this year. “To be a part of a team history like that is an honor,” senior Madie Sandberg said.

The relay groups are improving each week, and this past weekend at the Metea Valley Frosh/Varsity Invite, they took first place in a dominant showing in the 200-yard freestyle relay event, shaving their time down to an impressive 1:41.99, and took fourth place in the 400-yard freestyle relay event. This led to the program securing a fifth place finish in the meet with 281 points.

The interesting part about this recent success in the program’s relay events is this: they are, as expected, led by seniors; however, half of the girls in relay groups are sophomores.

The success that these underclassmen are having is leading the program toward another goal. “Our plan is to send the most girls to state in Metea’s history. We have sophomores that are really close, we believe this is possible,” said Sandberg.

Seniors like Madie Sandberg, Jacquelyn Kurkijan, Emily Garza, and Amanda Burson, have helped pass this tradition of dominance in relay events on to sophomores like Anna Scovill, Sadie Gregory, and Natalie Castillo, and also freshman Rylee Stone.

“It really helps us work harder knowing we have to step up behind [the seniors] and that we’re going to have to fill our roles, especially at the end of the season,” sophomore Natalie Castillo said.

The seniors have tried to lead by example, and have been able to do that especially well when working with underclassmen in the same relay group. But it hasn’t only been the underclassmen that are in the same group that they’ve connected with.

“The seniors has really worked hard at making sure everyone feels involved, and like part of the team,” senior Jacquelyn Kurkjian said.