By Dolly Prabhu, Staff Reporter 

Arms pumping, legs kicking and hearts hammering: it’s how girls swimming practices, and it’s how girls swimming wins.  

Last year, the Conestoga girls’ swim team secured its ninth straight Central League championship, a remarkable end to an undefeated season. This year, the team looks to secure a decade of consecutive championships, an incredible feat for any high school team.  

“We have been Central League champions for nine years now…this year will be our tenth,” senior Rebecca Lawrence said with an unwavering certainty that is echoed by each of her fellow swimmers. 

And so far, they have no reason to be doubtful: this season already looks promising.

 “We have a strong group of girls that are willing to go the extra mile,” junior Caroline Kirkby said. 

As a highly individual sport, swimming is able to offer its individuals several opportunities to excel on their own. A flexible policy regarding practice attendance allows many girls on the team to attend longer, more rigorous club workouts instead of school practices, which holds a strong appeal for many of the athletes. But although individual strength has contributed greatly to the overall success of the team, another strong factor  is the variety of skill they possess as a whole: coming together to form a skillfully diverse stronghold for their season meets.

“[Last year] we had really strong swimmers in almost every event,” junior Emily Stevens said. “We perform well under pressure and always manage to come through as a team.”

The team’s future looks bright, and the girls aren’t afraid to admit it. However, their confident outlook is far from arrogant.  

“Last year we had some very close meets,” Stevens said. “It showed us that we still need to work hard to maintain our level of success.” 

All in all, the girls’ swim team seems to be an unstoppable force, its devotion and zeal stronger than ever. The girls are going for their tenth title, with only one obstacle left to deal with: the amount of available space on the trophy shelf. 

Dolly Prabhu can be reached at dprabhu@stoganews.com.

Printed originally on p. 21 of The Spoke’s Jan. 12, 2010 edition.

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