By Emma Carr and Angela Bussone
Staff Writers
Jamesville-DeWitt High School’s Varsity Girls Swimming and Diving win at sectionals on Nov. 9 was very exciting because the final score was determined by the last event. “We all wanted to win. It was a good one,” says sophomore Alden Coyne.
Sectionals was not only exciting because it came to the final score, but also because some girls qualified for states. Seniors and captains Molly Hair and Kalie Coyne made it to states along with sophomores Alden Coyne and Sophia Farchione, junior Hayley Schultz, and freshman Kate Salvo. States was a success, with the team placing sixth in the state in the 200 medley relay. Racing in the relay was Farchione, backstroke; Schultz, breaststroke; Kalie Coyne, butterfly, and Alden Coyne, freestyle with a time of 1:50.67 according to syracuse.com. For the rest of the results see below.
How difficult is it to make states? The difference in qualifying time for states and sectionals could be a second, which in swimming is much longer than you would think. All girls say that making states is harder than making sectionals.“States is pretty hard. You have to be swimming and preparing all year,” says Kalie Coyne. “Right after sectionals we were doing full practices and it was really, really difficult to go back to doing full practices after tapering,” says freshman Kate Salvo. “It depends on the swimmer and stroke, some events are harder than others,” says Murad. “The difference in states and sectional time is a lot,” says Alden Coyne. All the girls were very proud to win at sectionals.
Not only were the girls who went to states successful but the entire team had a very good season. The team won every league meet and their only loss was to West Genesee who is not in their division. However, they got their revenge in sectionals when they beat West Genesee. The girls worked hard all season but many swimmers say that it was difficult working with so many people on the team. There were 45 girls on the team. One reason was because it was frustrating having so many swimmers in one lane at once. “During the regular season we would have 10 girls in a lane which is a lot. It would get very frustrating,” says senior and captain Katie Hughes. “It made it harder to sprint,” says Murad. Hair explains that it was hard because not everyone was at the same level. “When there’s a lot of people on the team there’s a lot of distractions and less time to practice,” says Alden Coyne. “It gets disorganized. Being a captain I try to keep everyone focused,” says senior and captain diver Taylor Cook.
Even though the girls had some difficulties they were very focused when preparing. “To prepare we would swim with drag, where you wear leggings and a lot of suits, and we couldn’t shave for three months,” says Coyne. Another way they prepared is by tapering, which means that the practices would get harder then as they got closer to sectionals they got easier, explains freshman Bess Murad. Coaches Bob Bewley and Matt Lowery also helped them prepare.
“It was very exciting, especially for the seniors,” says Murad. Hughes is “very proud” of her team because it shows they weren’t just lucky last year. “It wasn’t just a one time thing last year, it shows that we actually have talent. We have good coaches and a lot of good girls,” says Hughes.