By J1 Reporters Brooklyn Frankenfield and Frannie Morris

To some people, swimming seems like nothing more than swimming endless laps, but what they don’t realize is the effort and demanding training that the sport requires. Even throughout all of the intense and draining sets, the team always motivates and uplifts each other to get better each day. 

Junior Olivia French says what people think is that swimming lacks complexity. “Everyone thinks you’re just swimming back and forth for two hours, but there’s way more that goes into it like drills, conditioning and endurance training.” The mental aspect stands out just as much as the physical one. According to French, swimmers have to stay focused even during warm ups, looking for ways to improve timing, breathing and efficiency. French said, “You can’t zone out, you have to be mentally thinking the whole time.” 

Another junior, Jovie Keenan, explains how they practice every single day for at least two to three hours. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the swimmers have weights from 6:45-7:30 a.m. before returning to the water for an additional two hours after school. “It’s physically demanding and really intense swimming for two hours straight with five ish minute max breaks between each set,” Keenan said.

The team is able to encourage each other through different affirmations and activities. Keenan brought up the fact that there are no team captains on the swim team, so that “gives everyone a chance to be a leader.” This is just one reason why swimming can differ greatly from other sports.

 Another element to swimming that is a little different from other sports is the way they cheer each other on. Keenan said that it is a requirement for them that there always be a teammate at the end of the lane cheering on the person swimming. French said, “Leaders can’t have bad practices.” She explained that even when someone is having a bad practice, they have to make sure that doesn’t spread to anyone else by remaining optimistic. 

 All of their practice and preparations will pay off in their first meet of the season on Saturday, Dec 6. at Omaha Burke High School. At this meet they are swimming in many events against eight teams from around the area. 

Adviser Update: As posted on the @marianswimdive Instagram account, the Marian team took their first win of the season at Burke on Dec. 6. They had 13 lifetime best times/scores, 6 automatic state times/scores and 17 secondary state tiems. It was an “amazing start to the season.”