WHS Swim Team Ready To Dive Back Into the Pool and Create a Splash
by Kylie McClung for Walkersville High School Lion’s Pride
Dive in Walkersville High School, it is time to swim! Both guys and girls swim teams are back and better than ever, and adequately prepared for an eventful season.Through hard work during previous meets and early practices, the teams get ready to flip turn their way to victory.
“I am excited for this season! I have complete faith I will drop time in most events. I feel I’ve improved a lot since last season. Practices have been good; they’re not easy, but not as hard as my club practices. I expect a good season. We have a lot of great swimmers, and the same coaches from last season,” exclaimed sophomore Blaire Shively.
Sophomore Kameron Conley has been swimming for eleven years, including swimming for the Frederick Area Swim Team (FAST). This is his second year swimming with Shively. “I am very excited about this season. I hope I will drop time this season, considering I haven’t swum for high school in about a year, the [times] should drop significantly. There have only been a handful of practices, but they have all been great. I like my lane, and my teammates are nice. I expect the team to win more meets than last year and hope to have a great swim season this year,” said Conley.
“I am very excited. I think my times will be close to my older ones, but I’m hoping to drop some times. Practices have been going pretty good so far. Throughout the season I expect everyone to get along and to work hard while still having fun,” said sophomore Madison Eyler.
Team captains were announced at the beginning of practices. The senior team captains this year are Claire Owen, Grace Armogida, Nicole Dailey, Jack Chavez, and Nick Thomason.
“Yeah I’m pretty pumped for the season. I’m not expecting to drop too much time because I don’t swim club anymore, which is what helped me train the best before. I expect this season to be a lot different because we have a lot of new swimmers, but the coaches have been great about adapting to that. All practice we have the more experienced swimmers help the newbies with flip turns and strokes. As a captain, I feel like I have a lot of responsibilities, but it’s something I’ve been looking forward to as a freshman, so I’m ready to help lead the team to another successful year,” said Owen.
The coaches have been putting in continuous effort throughout the start of the season by leading and preparing the swimmers for what is to come. The boys team coaches are Kevin Conley, Kevin Eyley, and John Henderson. Henderson is also both the girls and boys dive team coach. The coaches for the girls team are Sara Fransciovich, Kelby Conley, Renee Huffer, and Jennifer Kendro.
“We are very excited. Coach [Fransciovich] and I have seen tremendous growth from our athletes over the last three years. The girls team has been undefeated in dual meets for two years and they were crowned county champions last year. Our boys have the largest squad we have seen in many years. We feel confident we can compete again this year, and our goal is to be one of the top three teams in the county. [Practices] have been going really well. With swimming we have to share pools and have a varied schedule. We actually train at 5:30am on Wednesday mornings. Our team has shown up [to] every session with enthusiasm and energy. We can see the camaraderie as the athletes continue to push each other to succeed. We have tremendous coaching staff. The swimming community is a very tight knit group and we exemplify that with our coaches. We have all four swim clubs in the area represented by our staff and many of the coaches have collegiate swimming experience. We work every night to put out a quality workout and to have the swimmers push themselves,” said [Kevin] Conley.
Through the coach’s eyes, it is hard to see the wants and needs of swimmers and how hard you can actually push them. The Conley’s have been working hard and have reflecting on what they expect from the swimmers this season. “From the team, it will always be striving for a perfect meet. We need to control things we can,” he said. Conley has made it a key point that he wants his athletes to not disqualify (DQ), or miss an event, and make sure they improve their time and always cheer on their teammates. “We have so many exciting things that occur throughout the season including our swimming fundraiser, pasta parties, stretch cord training, and meditation practice,” said Conley.
