The pressure is on.  It is the 400-yard freestyle relay, the last event of the Aug. 30 meet at LT SC pool.  Madison Wanless ‘18, the second swimmer in the relay, feels the energy coming from everyone in the crowd.  The meet is neck and neck, and every point matters.  This event would decide if girls’ swim and dive defeats New Trier.

“They placed fifth at state last year, so to know that we have the potential to be competing with them, and to be better than them is an amazing feeling,” Mary Kate Gannon ‘19 said.

The two LT relay groups ultimately placed second and third in the 400-yard freestyle relaying, allowing the team to beat New Trier on all three levels.  This meet was the first time any IHSA girls’ swim team had beaten New Trier in a dual meet since 2006.  The scores were varsity 99-87; JV 1 100-86; and JV 2 102-84, according to the IHSA website.

“I was so thrilled that we beat them,” Wanless said. “It was a little reminder that everything we were doing in practice so far had been paying off, and we just had to keep doing what we were doing to see results like this in the future.”

This is just one victory for girls’ swim and dive team on its journey towards state, Gannon said.  Last year, they placed 10th in state, and the team has potential to place higher this season.

“We lost some seniors that were a really big part of the team, both from a performance standpoint, but also their attitude and the way they carried themselves,” Head Girl’s Swim and Dive coach Kurt Johns said. “At the same time, we were fortunate enough that we have so much depth and so much talent on our team.  It looks like we will be able to fill those voids pretty easily.”

In order to improve, practice style has changed up this season, said Gannon. Instead of all the swimmers practicing together, the girls are split up into three separate training groups: varsity, JV 1 and JV 2.

“I think it is going to help us, because it is hard to coach girls on JV 2 and varsity at the same time because they are very different type of swimmers,” Gannon said. “They have different weaknesses and strengths, so I think it is going to make the team a lot stronger.”

On a week without meets, the girls have morning practice from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Monday and Friday, Callahan Dunn ‘20 said.  On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, they have dryland, athletic training done by swimmers on land that improves performance in the water, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.  They also have a two and a half hour practice after school.  If there is a meet, it takes the place of one of the afternoon practices or the Saturday practice from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

“I think some of our strengths include being super energetic, and feeding off of each other’s craziness which makes practice really fun,” Wanless said. “We also push each other every day, whether it be swimming or dryland. We’ve got a great group of girls who are always so encouraging.”

The girls will be swimming next on Sept. 23 at the Rosary Invitational and the LT Frosh/Soph Invitational.