This year, the swim team was able to get in the water once again. Despite the breakout out of COVID-19, the swim team did not hold back and prepared for their upcoming season, only having 4 people per lane and spaced out with one swimmer at one side of the pool and the other two where the flag pools are. Following this protocol, they were able to swim safely. But once out of the water, or before they even make it into the water, they had their masks on at all times. And with swim meets, they were divided into two groups for both boys and girls.

“The swim team did super well this season, we even got some swimmers who made it to regionals this year, which made me proud,” said Coach Laine.

“I definitely improved a lot from how I was last year, especially since I moved up a lane that really challenged me to improve myself,” said sophomore Thanu Kraiwan.

“I think this year went well for me, I got to work on my butterfly stroke and I even tried some new events for the meets, and it was just really fun to swim and participate in new stuff,” said sophomore Maria Brickey.

The swimmers have had a great, positive attitude with how they did this season and feel proud of themselves. This season, the swim team had their practices in the mornings.

“This year morning practices were a lot easier to attend, and I also had a clear mind since I didn’t have school before so I think it may have to lead me to be more happy but tired throughout the day, I like having practiced in the morning since it’s not really that hard for me to wake up. And even if I did have a bad morning, the people I talked with during practice always brightened up my morning.” said sophomore Maria Brickey.

“Honestly, it is very tiring but afterward you go to school and feel more awake,” said sophomore Gabby Downey.

It’s normal for teens to not enjoy waking up so early, but like many people say, waking up early is the key to success.

“I don’t really enjoy waking up in the morning especially really early but the benefits it has by just waking up and going to exercise and practice are good for our health and it definitely helps with focusing in class and school,” said sophomore Thanu Kraiwan.

While in the water, the swimmers have to practice all strokes, relays, flip turns, dives, and prepare themselves for their meets, but when given the time to swim their favorite stroke, they especially enjoyed themselves.

“My favorite stroke is backstroke, it’s always fun to flip turns with this stroke and the body movement you have to glide through the water and it’s pretty cool,” said senior Lalana Kraiwan.

“I really like freestyle because it is the fastest, although it is not the easiest, it is still fun,” said Thanu Kraiwan.

“My favorite stroke to swim is breaststroke because it is honestly the smoothest to swim in the water,” said junior Sage Laine.

This year, the Liberty High School swim team did an amazing job swimming, and people are very glad they got an opportunity to swim. There were some particularly fast swimmers on the team with one of the fastest times for 100 meters being 1:16, swam by Lalana Kraiwan. In the end, the swim team had a very successful season, and this is only the beginning as they prepare for future seasons ahead.