BY LAUREN LENKER, Junior
BLYTHEWOOD -- Most people know about basketball, football, baseball, and many other common sports, but unfortunately, most people do not know about many other sports such as swimming and the fact that Blythewood High School has a swim team as a fall sport.
The BHS swim team was established when the school opened in 2005.
The team consists of coaches Coach Kristen Giese and Coach Nicole Smith, two male captains, two female captains, and 36 swimmers.
Due to the fact swimming is a fall sport for the school, the team only has a two month season that consists of only 40 practices and a few home meets which are held at the Columbia Country Club in Long Creek.
During swim practices, many swimmers practice their skills by swimming all of the strokes which include; butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.
“The coaches help us broaden our times, strokes, and experience by putting us in different events, ones we wouldn't normally think to do,” junior Morgann Cobey said.
Out of the 22 events per meet, some of the more popular events consist of the 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, and 100 Breaststroke.
Sophomore David McDowell, a swimmer on the Blythewood High School swim team, swims the events: 50 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, and 200 Individual Medley.
He especially likes swimming breaststroke, like many other swimmers, because it is the slowest stroke and it is easier for the swimmer to breathe and not swallow as much water.
“I’m not good at any other type of physical activity,” sophomore David McDowell states.
Many people who join swim team claim they are not good at other sports and swimming is the one sport they enjoy.
Another event, the Individual Medley, is an event that many swimmer dread because of it’s numerous amount of laps and the amount of energy it takes to swim it.
“The Individual Medley is too long and should not be an event,” junior Audrey Cutlip states.
An event that many swimmers find popular and enjoy more are relays, which consist of, four individual swimmers having to swim a certain amount of laps.
“I prefer them over individual races. They pull members of the team together,” junior Audrey Cutlip states.
BHS has four team captains who are responsible for leading the team and for trying to get the swimmers excited for the meets and their events. The captains are junior Sean Bell, junior Brendon Gillan, senior Bailey Haynes, and junior Rachel Reid.
“Team unity is important because we need each other in many ways. As a team, we socialize together, train together, cheer together, and perform together. We need each other for encouragement and support, so we can swim our absolute best in each race and win our meets” junior Rachel Reid states.
