Tonight’s swim-meet in Hutchinson, Kansas marks the final one in the first half of the team’s season.
So far, the team has finished seventh of eight teams in one meet, fourth of four in another, but second place in the other two, including Saturday’s meet at Wichita Southeast.
It was a meet the team entered without a couple of key swimmers, head coach Kaitlyn Paul said.
“I was very excited,” Paul said. “To be able to bring home a second place finish with being down two of our major point-scorers was very exciting.”
In the meet, the team was able to compete and even outscore some Wichita-based teams they didn’t last year.
Still, Paul said is running on fumes a little bit right now. Today will be the fifth meet in two weeks for the team.
“It been tough and I think there has been some of that mental exhaustion, but also a lot of physical exhaustion,” Paul said.
Today’s meet in Hutchinson is one Paul said she is looking forward to because sometimes the team outscores Hutchinson, but sometimes they don’t, so seeing how the teams relate will be interesting.
Though it’s good the team has built some momentum with some strong results, Paul said it’s important the team keeps working over the break because nearby schools are working to catch up.
“I think it’s important for us to realize that Liberal and Garden City are both starting first-year programs,” Paul said. “I think it’s important for us to keep in mind that yes, we’ve been doing very well against Garden City and Liberal so far, but after winter break that could change.”
