Senior places second at the swimming State Championship

By Brittany Roker, Community Relations Editor

At the Pennsylvania swimming state championship last week, varsity swimmer and senior Nic Graesser received second place in the 100 yard backstroke.

“It’s definitely a great experience getting second,” Graesser said.  “My goal was to hold [my feet] and I guess I achieved that.”

Graesser owes his accomplishment to the way he prepared for States.

“There’s more dry-land work,” Graesser.  “In the previous years, I tended to work harder in the pool, but this year, I tried to emphasize my weightlifting.”

Graesser was not the only one who dove for his goal.  The varsity team finished tenth overall, which came as a shock to Graesser.

“I was definitely surprised that we got tenth,” Graesser said.  “It was a nice surprise that we all stepped up to the plate and we actually made it back to the finals.  We got sixth in the relays.  That’s definitely exciting.”

The team has improved from their season last year.  According to Graesser, about three swimmers had the opportunity of attending the State Championship last year and the team did not qualify for the relays.  This year, five students were able to go and they qualified for the relays.

Graesser, who plans on swimming after high school for the University of North Carolina, says that the team worked very hard this year to achieve its success.

“It’s a lot of hard work and commitment to the sport,” Graesser said.  “It’s not easy getting up at 5:30 in the morning and then going back at night to a practice again.”

Brittany Roker can be reached at broker@stoganews.com.