The 2021 BSM girls’ swim and dive team is off to a strong start, making up for their shortened season in 2020. So far this year, the team has won their first four meets and then followed that up by dropping their next four. The team is coached by Ryan Miksch and Craig Croaston, and is led by senior captains Adeline Kelly and Sydney Holinka.

After a different and difficult season last year with the many COVID restrictions, the team was looking forward to a more normal season. However, this season isn’t immune to adversity. “We’ve had a fair amount of injuries and illnesses this year. Getting everyone back in the pool and healthy is key,” Miksch said.

With a difficult schedule thus far, swimmers are happy with the steps taken so far. Instead of focusing on the team’s record, captain Sydney Holinka is encouraged by the way the team is situated for the rest of the season. “The season has been good so far, we have swam against some competitive teams, which is a good way to gauge how much we need to improve for the end of the season,” Holinka said.

While the girls are locked in on improving their times in the pool, they also have improved team chemistry by spending lots of time together outside of the pool. Along with having breakfast together and introducing games, they continue team bonding throughout the season. “We assign everyone a secret sister, they write words of encouragement to each other before each meet. Later in the season we try to get the team to an apple orchard after a Saturday practice to help keep the girls connected throughout the season,” Holinka said.

Upcoming in the schedule, the Red Knights have meets against strong teams including Waconia, Delano, Bloomington Kennedy, and Robbinsdale Cooper. Coach Ryan Miksch knows how important it is to perform well in that upcoming stretch “We have some tough duals in the middle of the season, which should really test us as a team. I’m excited for our section meet toward the end of the season to see how well we compete,” Miksch said.

So far, swimmers have successfully been able to step up into bigger roles this season, and Holinka describes this as a payoff to hard work in practices. “We have a lot of girls who have improved from last year and will continue to improve throughout this season… you can see their hard work paying off in their races,” Holinka said.