Friday, October 23, 2009
Swimmers start season strong St. Cloud state defeats Dragons, team remains confident in performances
Photo by Abby paul / The advocate
Kayla Koenig placed first in 3 meter diving and in 1 meter diving on Oct. 17 during a dual against St. Cloud. The team lost against St. Cloud, but are not dismayed.
Last weekend the Dragons swimming and diving team took on St. Cloud State, officially kicking off its season. Although the team lost overall, the athletes showed strong swimming and diving skills and are excited for what the rest of the season has in store.
“Even though we lost to St. Cloud, we had a great team effort with good performances in the pool and on the board,” senior Cassie Jensen said. “St. Cloud is one of the best teams in Division II and they have so much depth in every event.”
Junior Sara Thanel agreed with Jensen, saying the team competed well despite the loss.
“I think last weekend’s meet went really well. We had a diver get 1st on both boards, which has never happened against St. Cloud,” Jensen said.
Junior Ann Gusewell was awarded the title of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Pre-season Swimmer of the Year. She proved herself this weekend where she and senior Kayla Koenig won a combined total of five events. “I think that the team will do amazing this year,” Gusewell said. “We have a fantastic group of girls.”
One challenge the team will have to overcome to be successful is the fact that this is the team’s first year in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and being in the new conference means new opponents.
“I think the most challenging part of the season will be our goal of winning the conference meet in February,” Jensen said. “We moved to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, so we will be competing against some teams we have never seen before.”
The team travels to Aberdeen, S.D., tomorrow to compete against Northern State, which is in its third year as a team.
“Our meet lineup is different than usual so most of us get to try events we don’t usually swim,” Jensen said. “We should be able to come away from this one with a victory.”
Gusewell said that this year is going to be exciting.
“Every year we are able to achieve bigger and better things, and this year is no exception,” Gusewell said. “With the mixture of talent in the team this year, there is no limit to what we will be able to achieve if we put our minds to it.”