The 2024-2025 swim team has competed all the way to Regionals and now onto State. Placing third in the 200 free relay and grabbing a podium finish in multiple races has become a recurring accomplishment for this team over the last few years.

The State swim meet prelims take place on Feb. 21 and finals are on Feb. 22 in Austin, Texas.

“I thought we would be competitive, but I didn’t expect that we would win and so getting Bradley Bontrager to State on [the 200 medley] relay was pretty exciting,” head coach Ronald Lee said.

Lee spent a lot of time with his swimmers. They practiced almost every weekday for the past six months and therefore have all gained special and trustworthy connections.

“I had a pretty good idea who was going to advance but there were a couple of surprises,” Lee said.

When competing in large important events, athletes experience many emotions and many athletes have rituals before their games or meets to calm their nerves. Senior Bradley Bontager always prays prior to his meets and sophomore James Dozell consistently listens to music before.

“I’m kind of nervous, excited but nervous because it’s State you know?” Drozell said. “It’s a big deal.”

Not only did the swimmers experience mixed emotions, but so did the parents and coaches when it came to achieving a State title.

“It’s always exciting,” Lee said. “It’s stressful because even though my numbers get smaller, my work that I have to do between now and State gets exponentially more.”

The preparation that goes into a win started to grew beyond the daily practice but also into the swimmer’s eating and resting habits. 

“We do tapering so we can’t eat sugar and were supposed to take it relatively easy at practice to not overwork ourselves,” Drozell said.