On Friday, January 31, prelims, the first round of Regionals, began for the Highlands girls’ swim team. The team left school early at 1:55 PM to prepare for the meet, which started at 5:15 PM with warm-ups beginning at 4:25 PM.
For swimming, there are three rounds before a team or individual can make a state.
This is because, unlike some sports, swimming is not divided into divisions. Swimmers compete against everyone in their state, limiting the number of spots open to compete in the final round.
The first round is prelims, where only two swimmers per event may participate. No more than 16 participants from one region will advance to the next round in any event.
But for some swimmers who didn’t progress past the first round of regionals, this was their last swim meet. One of those swimmers was Adelaide Foley (12), who spent the day enjoying her final meet.
Thankfully for Foley and her fellow seniors, their last meet was a success, with Highlands finishing first. The majority of the swimmers made the region finals, with Highlands as the combined champion of the first round.
To prepare, the swim team plans to “have kind of a normal week of practice, still resting and tapering [a decrease in training before important competitions]. Kind of figuring out what we did best and what we can improve on,” swim coach Kevin Kampschmidt said.
Resting is a crucial part of athleticism. This practice is usually done after weeks of difficult training leading up to a competition. It helps the swimmers to prepare mentally and physically.
In one month, these girl swimmers will continue to the first round of the state competition, semi-state: Keira Kobida (10) for 200 freestyle, Regan Moore (11), and Sarah Jones (12) for the 50 freestyle, Ella Kate Reynolds (8) for 500 freestyle. There they will hopefully be able to move to the final round and win state.
