BSM Girls’ Swimming and Diving has a history of consistently performing well each season, and this year has been no exception.

Girls’ Swim and Dive looks to be a strong team going into their Varsity Section meet this season. “A lot of our girls are very strong and we have quite a few developing swimmers,” senior captain Abigail Gage said.

BSM is bringing back two Veteran state participants from last year—juniors Elle Dickey and Melinda Beason. The team also has a few first-year members that hope to make it to State. Freshman Taylor Williams has been consistently dominant in the pool all season, and can carry that dominance into the Section meet. “I swam within one one-hundredth of a personal best in the 200 free. I had gotten a 1:53.99 at a meet in Florida [ISCA a meet for elite swimmers] this past spring and…[this season] I went a 1:54.00,” Williams said.

To help prepare, the team has never had a major break in their training. “We prepare for Sections all year long. It’s the process of building endurance, technique, then adding as much conditioning on top of that as we possibly can,” head coach Damon Carrison said.

One week prior to the Sections meet, the team goes through a process known as taper. “Taper is a drop-down in training and yardage so your body is fully rested and can reach its full potential on race day,” Dickey said.

There’s definitely a lot of energy going into the Section meet. “I think we’re going to do so well. The team has so much potential this year and were are going to knock it out of the park,” junior Annie Valerius said.

It’s important that the coach has as much faith that the swimmers have in each other. “I feel spirits are high, and we have a lot of confidence in our preparation,” Carrison said.

Along with overall team goal of everybody swimming their best, many of the swimmers also have personal goals for the meet. “I hope to qualify for state (either first, second, or a time cut),” Freshman Taylor Williams said.  Others hope to achieve personal bests as well. “I really want to get a personal best in my 100 fly and 100 back,” Gage said.

Prelims for the 2017 section 2A meet will be held at Richfield Middle School for both prelims and finals. Prelims begin Wednesday, November 8 at 6:00 pm and finals begin Friday, November 10 also at 6:00 pm.