The swimming team has had a strong winter season, growing in familiarity and spirit as they’ve attended more and more meets. 

According to team captain senior Austin Bagby, team dinners and a team vacation to the beach during the summer has helped them to continue to be a close-knit crew of hard workers. 

“We’ve been doing [team dinners] since I was a freshman,” Bagby mentioned, “It’s a really good tradition.”

Freshman Leone Cook is excited to reconnect with familiar faces and compete at a high school level. In eighth grade, Cook had a few friends in the grade level above her who swam with McDaniel, so she is grateful that she gets to join them. 

“I’m super happy to be on the team with them now because I couldn’t wait to last year,” Cook said. 

Cook participates in the 50 butterfly and freestyle in three relays. She wants to improve on the skill-specific aspects of swimming. 

“I really hope to get better on the more technical stuff like getting my form perfect and gaining speed,” Cook said. 

Bagby says making state is a team-wide goal for each member.

“Individually, I’m hoping to place on the podium at both of my events and the relays,” Bagby said. “And for the team, I’m hoping we can have a fun time and overall good experience for everyone. I really want to give them the experience of going to state.”

Junior Tory Langlie has grown close with teammates and hopes to improve in speed and strength.

“At the start of each season, there are plenty of new faces and names to learn. I try my best to remember their names and to be friendly,” Langlie said. 

Bagby has been swimming since he was around 10 years old on and off but became more serious about it his freshman year. 

“We have improved a lot by creating friendships,” Bagby mentioned. “When I first joined the team, we had to all wear masks and it didn’t feel like a community.” 

As the team captain, Bagby is also making it a goal to keep enthusiasm and team chemistry throughout the season.

“As I’ve gone on in my years, I have helped with making a community and making it what I want the team to be,” Bagby said. 

Bagby said there are many good seniors who will be graduating and wondered what the loss of those pillars would look like next year. 

“I feel like if we can just keep the team morale good, we can recruit more people. I hope we can keep familiar faces, and they can improve,” Bagby said. 

According to Bagby, like Cook, many freshmen joined this year, which makes for a lot of strength throughout the program and faith in the future.

“It’s going to be nice to help out the next generation of people,” Bagby said. 

Cook is looking forward to her upcoming years as a part of the team.

“It’s my first high school sport, which is definitely fun,” Cook said. 

As the season winds down, excitement for next year is on the horizon, with more new faces and further experience to share with one another.