This past Saturday the district swim meet was held in the basement pool of Godwin. There were six schools that came to compete: Waynesboro, Turner Asbhy, Rockbridge, Broadway, Spotswood, and Harrisonburg.
On HHS’s swim team, there are 19 swimmers and three divers. Each person competes in a certain number of events. The amount they compete in varies. Some people competed in a total of four events (two individual, two relays which is the maximum) and other might compete in as few as just one or two relays.
Seniors Priscilla Harrison and Joey Glick and junior Trent Sosa also compete in the 1 meter diving. The first part, five out of the eleven dives, took place on Friday at Godwin. All of the swimmers came out to support the divers on their team. The stands were scarcely filled with basically only swimmers and family of the divers.
“I enjoy the atmosphere of diving. It is actually kinda good to have a smaller crowd because for diving we need to concentrate while diving but I also love my team being there because they cheer really loud when I finish,” said Harrison.
She is advancing to regionals but had already qualified for states earlier in the season.
All of the officials, turn and stroke judges, announcers, and the team provided timers all came out to help run the meet successfully and have it start right on time at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The HHS team of 19, compared to others team like TA and Spotswood that both had around 40 swimmers, were very small. Right off the bat Spotswood, Waynesboro, and TA took control of the meet because Broadway, Harrisonburg, and Rockbridge are all significantly smaller than them.
“We have always been a smaller team, and going into big competitions with teams like these, we know we don’t have the best chance to win necessarily but we have good swimmers and we can match up individually,” junior Connor Hegg said.
The meet ended around 6:00 p.m. with an exciting last relay preformed by all the teams. The last relay is the 400 freestyle relay, where each swimmer swims a 100 freestyle.
Overall the TA boys slightly beat the Spotswood boys, and the Spotswood girls swept the competition. The HHS swim team provided six swimmers to continue into the regional competition. Among them was the girls 200 freestyle relay, which consisted of juniors Claire Glick and Joanna Hernandez, sophomore Emma Peifer, and freshman Sydney Little.
Individually, Little, Hernandez, and Glick made it to regionals. Little made it in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. Hernandez and Glick both made it in the 50 free (which is a shorten form of freestyle), and Glick also made it in the 100 free. As for the boys, juniors Connor Bell and Connor Hegg made it. Bell made it in the 200 free. As Hegg made it in the 100 free and the 100 breaststroke. Harrison and Joey Glick both made it to the regional competition in diving.
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