They go unnoticed and are silenced, but yet again the Athens Drive swim team swims their way into the conference meet this time with a twist.
The team was preparing to swim on January 29th but due to weather conditions, it was canceled.
“It was really frustrating honestly because policy on weather is always interesting, especially when the weather doesn’t happen. I wish we would wait to see what happens with the weather before anything changes,” said Shane Barry, swim coach.
Thankfully for the team, the conference swim meet was rescheduled for February 1, but it wasn’t an ideal meet.
The conference meet is a time trial to make regions, with the meet moving to Feb. 1 the times were still required to be submitted Feb. 29 at midnight.
“None of the swims at the conference actually qualified for the postseason because the deadline actually passed,” said Barry.
For the seniors, especially those who don’t make the qualifying times, they get to swim one last time.
Senior Trevor McDonald is a great example of this. McDonald was competing at the conference expecting this to be his last meet, but he was wrong. McDonald was scratched into regionals.
“I was pretty excited to be scratched into regionals because regionals is always a good time and it would give me another chance to swim,” said McDonald.
It was a bittersweet moment for McDonald. He is sad this is the last season but he is excited for his next four years at UNC and knows his time as a swimmer is coming to an exciting end.
The meet had its ups and downs, with the meet getting rescheduled and the swimmers’ times not counting towards regionals it wasn’t the most ideal swim meet, but after placing 3rd in their new conference against Broughton and Gibbons, Barry remains proud of his team.
The new conference has changed the dynamic. “We had rivalries in the old conference, the teams know each other, and I know all the coaches from the old conference,” said Barry, who referred to the new conference as an awkward first date.
This didn’t stop the team from keeping the energy high. When the meet got rescheduled, social media posts were flying; the feeling of knowing you will be able to swim one last time was a great one for the morale of the swim team
“We all support each other and are always excited to watch each other swim especially when races are super close with another team,” said McDonald, “From screaming to clapping, the energy is always high.”
When the news came out that the conference meet was rescheduled, “Everyone was really really excited to get in at all and I’ll be honest getting to miss a day of school added to the excitement,” Barry said.
This excitement and energy is not over yet, the team will carry their strengths over to regionals to put up a good fight for a place in states.
“This year and this conference meet was one of the best,” said McDonald “I will miss the team but I am excited to see the great things they will accomplish next season.”
