The longest sport season of the year is drawing to a close for the swim and dive team since starting in September. On Friday, Jan. 17, the team competed in the district championships meet with the 4×4 relay team advancing to regionals which will take place this Friday, Jan. 31. The four swimmers advancing include freshman Nick Allen, sophomore Allan Busby, junior Ryan Moore and senior captain Elliot Busby.

“I tell my athletes to be aggressive while racing,” head coach Jeff Jones said. “I believe the swimmers have done enough quality practices before the meets that they should be confident in their ability to race well.”

Besides a few injuries, several meets and an extensive practice schedule, the swimmers believe they had a prosperous season. Productive meets proved the swimmers’ hard work, making Jones proud of them.

“I definitely feel that our meets were successful,” Jones said. “Each meet we had a majority of best times from all of the students that participated. I was happy with how the group performed at our early January meet because we were coming off of the holiday break training.”

Jones believes establishing a positive environment with athletes ensures a better experience and outcomes of practice. He gives advice when needed and believes his swimmers have done enough to be confident in their racing during meets.

“I make sure to praise the athletes while they are doing something well,” Jones said. “They need to hear that as they are practicing. I also make sure to try to explain stroke changes and other concepts as many different ways as I can to make sure the athletes understand what I am looking for.”

While this season was focused on swimmers individually perfecting their swims and strokes rather than relays, Busby kept the team together during the meets to ensure high scores were achieved.

“I’m a senior and captain so a lot of people look at you like you’re the all-star of the team,” Busby said. “It’s a completely different position from not knowing anything about the team to knowing everything.”

With the help of their teammates, swimmers managed to push through the burnouts and injuries they and divers faced throughout the season. Improving times and gaining new swimmers gave the team motivation to work harder each meet they competed in.

“This season I’ve enjoyed dropping time, going to my last meets and cheering for [our] teammates,“ senior swimmer Noah Nelson said. “Our goal is to try to be the loudest team there. Maybe we’re not the fastest team, but we want to be the team with the biggest spirit.”