Every day after school, a group of girls grab their gear and jump on the bus. They are headed over to the Englewood Rec Center where they practice swimming. It is a familiar place for most members of this team who have been perfecting their skills in the pool for the last few years.

Tracey Lonn has been coaching girls swimming for more than a decade, “I have been the head swimming coach for 14 years, I’m really excited I have more girls on the roster, a lot of the freshmen that are in the team have a lot of experience so it’s gonna help the team out more.”

The students participating are very excited to start this year and are hopeful they will have a great season, “I think it’s gonna go well. We have more girls than we did last year. It’s most definitely gonna be sad for me that it’s my last year swimming, I’m gonna miss all my teammates but I’m glad I’m doing it for my last year,” said McKenna Bone (12).

Some seniors plan to continue swimming and see it as a lifetime sport, meaning something they will enjoy into adulthood.

The newer members of the team are learning techniques to make them stronger in the water, “Playing catch-up and where you do one stroke and another stroke,” said Sofie Mcmichael (10).

“This is my first year, I’ve only been to one practice so far and we did a lot of catch-up drills,” said Eva Marques (9).

Students who have joined this year for the first time are excited and learning new techniques on how to swim better, and faster.

“I don’t know if we will make it to the state but I have confidence that we will make it to at least to the top 16,” Lonn said. She says the team this year is a bigger group and has more potential.