Girls Swimming Hits the Finish Line

The Raiders’ swim team has yet again disappointed the rest of the EMAC teams as they won the league championship for the third year in a row. 

With high hopes at the beginning of the season, the girls definitely accomplished most of those, winning APS championships for the 17th year in a row as well.

“Not only did we do good in the pool but we did great outside of the pool. Every girl on the roster (44)  made it on the athletic honor roll, and to me that was one of the best accomplishments,” stated head coach Peter Gerard.

The girls had a tough meet at League as they had to beat out Brighton. In the first meet of the season they actually lost to Brighton, so they knew that going into League they had to bring their best line up.

“Our team’s biggest accomplishments were pushing past obstacles and winning league again. Winning the league for three years in a row is such an amazing feeling, each year it has been so close and pulling it off was exhilarating and a huge relief,” said senior Avery Hill. 

This is the fifth year in a row that girls have qualified for state. This year, six girls qualified for state. Irin Kim, Jullie Maldinado, Jasmine Johnson, Hailey Zant, and Tristin DiPentino.

Among the six was senior Jasmine Johnson who stated at the beginning of the season, “I want to make state for the fourth year in a row. I want to set new league records, and I want to set new school records.”

She accomplished both of those things this season. Johnson swam in three events in state: 200m medley relay, 200m freestyle relay, and the 100m breaststroke.  She also broke the school record for the 100m breaststroke. 

“It was a great season overall, our overall goal was for everyone to have fun and I believe that everyone did. It was an amazing team effort overall and a great season,” said coach Gerard.