With a dominating victory and senior appreciation night, TJ girls swimming is ready for city.
Junior Colette Hernandez help set the pace for the city meet.
It was the last meet of the year – a home swim meet at that – and the pool was packed. Fans were anticipating a great match-up between the Thomas Jefferson Spartans and the West Cowboys as well as senior appreciation night.
Former TJ swimmer, and daughter of head coach Cindy Allen, Ivory Allen was in the stands to support her former team. “It’s fun to come back and watch, but it is upsetting at the same time. I miss swimming for the school I love,” Allen said.
The audience would not be let down, as the girls won the meet handily. Andrea Shacklock once again did notably well, along with Nina Severns, who posted a time of 6:44.56 in her 500-meter freestyle swim. In fact, the girls managed to come in first place in every single event. The Spartan ladies performed fantastically, coming away with a victory and a score of 127-49.
The diving team also did well. With the guaranteed win in the diving category (due to the lack of divers for West), the girls had a chance to work on their tougher dives. “This was a good opportunity for the ladies to work on their harder dives with some added pressure from the judges,” said Diving Coach Aimee Witulski. At the City Meet, the girls will need to do 11 dives total, two in each category and then one more, so they will need to try some new dives that they aren’t comfortable with,” she added.
Colette Hernandez – 117.22
Mallory Knoll – 108.97
Sarah Southard – 79.57
Following the diving, the seniors on the team were honored with a senior appreciation ceremony. Seniors Nina Severns, Hall Hupperts, Mallory Knoll, and Heather Brenneman, were honored with a short monologue and recognized for their leadership skills.
The meet ended with a cake for the swimmers, and the reminder that the City Swim Meet is right around the corner. “We have high expectations for the City Meet. We have stuck close to the workout and the girls have put in a lot of effort and dedication, and hopefully it will all pay-off this weekend,” stated Allen. “This meet was a great confidence builder, and hopefully we can carry this momentum through and be rewarded with a city title.”
The girls will be at Manual on February 6th and 7th to compete in the City Meet.
