Our Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving Teams have had a great season so far! These two NCHS teams have worked hard all season long. In February, both teams will compete at Sectionals for a chance to go to State.
Throughout the season, the swim team practices in multiple ways: During the beginning of the season, students quickly dip their feet into the water, and get back into the swing of swimming everyday. (Some members swim all year long, but most only swim during the high school season.) In the fall, and up until Christmas vacation, The team trains in the pool everyday after school and many early mornings, preparing them for the first half of the season.
During break, the teams go all-out with three-hour morning practices everyday! This time is used to build up tolerance to pain, and maximize muscle recovery to reduce soreness. These hard practices continue all the way up until a day or two before the Hoosier Heritage Conference meets (the first few weekends in January). Practices continue with high intensity until all dual meets are over.
Lastly, in preparing for Sectionals, the NCHS swimmers go through a series of practices called "quantity down," or lessening the yardage distance, giving our students more rest between sets. After all this training, the Boys and Girls Swim Teams come to the high-point in the season; the students are now geared-up and ready for Sectionals!
The future looks bright for the two teams, but the Boys Team did not have any seniors this year. They were fortunate enough to have a foreign exchange student from Kazakhstan, sophomore Batyrkhan Kuldybayev. He's had great success at the meets, and has has made many friends.
Next year, the Boys Team will be bringing back six juniors, to make for a big senior class. The Girls Team will losing one senior at the end of this year.
We also have three amazing divers this year, working hard individually all season. They have endured continual morning practices and regular after school practices trying to perfect their techniques. We have two girl divers, McKenna Prickett, and Annie Glover, and one boy diver, Jack Bertram. All three will be returning next year for another awesome season!
Our awesome swim coach, Kristin Owens, wants the best for all of her swimmers. She constantly motivates them to not only win, but to do the best they can. She preaches the importance of "being intentional, everyday" in practice, and that "every little thing you do during practice adds up. It's about giving effort." One of her favorite quotes comes from Olympian Michael Phelps,
"'If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do.'"
Good luck to all the New Castle Swimmers. We wish you a great season finale.