On Thursday, Oct. 5, the Girls Varsity swim and dive team won their meet against Rockford High School. It was the first time they beat Rockford in six years. Throughout the meet, the scores were close, but WO ended up beating Rockford 165-150.
Jr. Kacey Westenbroek had a key win in the 100-yard backstroke. “I went into the race thinking, ‘There is no way I am going to win the race, so I might as well just focus on my time, and not winning.’ But during the race, I could see Erin McDowell’s arms next to me and I knew I had a real chance of beating her. After I touched the wall, I looked over at Steve (Coach Steve Bowyer) first and he was jumping up and down. I figured that I made the state cut, but when I looked at my time, that was not the case, so I looked at the place and saw that I got first. I was beyond surprised and excited. My teammates ran up to hug me after. This is the moment in the meet when I realized that there was a good chance we could win.”
“Throughout the meet I actually became more nervous because we continued to win races that would help put us in a position to have a chance to win the meet,” Bowyer said.
As the meet went on, the tension continued to build. The scores were close, and one race could determine who would win. “At diving, we were counting up the points and seeing that it was really close. I was realizing that we really could win the meet,” Frosh. Lilly Brandt said.
After diving, Bowyer gave a speech about finishing the meet strong. He told the swimmers to “leave it all in the pool.” By this, he meant that the team should leave the meet knowing they competed their best.
Team captain Sr. Caroline Sisson also gave a motivating speech telling the team that racing is all about attitude. She told the team that if they thought that they would lose their race, they would.
The meet was very emotional for the entire team. “The whole team came together to support and motivate each other. This unity of our team during this meet is what brought us to victory,” Sr. Abby Laduke said. When the score was announced, the team was jumping up and down, screaming, crying, and hugging each other.