Swimming for Glory: Girl’s swim aims to return to the top 2 at state

The varsity girls swim team is aiming to rebound from an unsatisfying season last year — placing third at state, the lowest team finish since 2009 — and placing in the top two at state.

For most teams, finishing third at state is a major accomplishment, but for East, it’s only average, according to girls swim head coach Chris Copeland.

“We had lost quite a few seniors the year before,” Copeland said “So [last year] we just didn’t have the depth that we have this year.”

Team captain and senior Ella Howard believes the reasoning for the disappointing finish was adjusting to a new coach. In addition to having to learn Copeland’s style of coaching, the team also lost valuable swimmers when the class of 2022 graduated.

“We had lost quite a few seniors the year before,” Copeland said “So [last year] we just didn’t have the depth that we have this year.”

She says one of the team’s biggest advantages this year is its depth, the team has a variety of swimmers with different strengths. The varsity team has 29 swimmers on it this year, while normally the team has closer to 20 swimmers, according to Howard. Fellow captain and junior Emmy Barrett believes the new freshman class has added to that depth.

“All of the freshmen have been really, really good right off the bat,” Barrett said.

Freshman Anne Bowser has already qualified for state along with three other freshmen — Addie Clark, Coco Reiser, and Vada Walsh — who had state consideration times. 

To qualify for state, a swimmer must record a certain time, which differs between events. A state consideration time is a couple seconds slower than the state qualification time.

The current success of the freshmen, along with the success of previous freshman classes allows for the team to continue to be among the best teams in Kansas over the coming years, according to Copeland.

Because of the larger team, there are a variety of swimmers who are skilled in every event, leading to a stronger and more competitive team, according to Copeland

“Our team is a little bit more diverse this year in terms of specific stroke capabilities,” Copeland said. “So we’re a little bit more well-rounded.”

The roster has gone through some changes this year with the addition of the freshman, but the coaches are still focusing on helping swimmers who are struggling, by giving them tips, or helping them with their techniques one on one, according to sophomore Natalie Jones

“It feels like everything we do is super team-oriented, especially for an individual sport,” Jones said.

So far the team has had four meets, winning their district meet by over 700 points and winning a dual meet against former state champions Lawrence Free State by 27 points. East then finished in second at the Olathe Invitational, with seven more meets until state.

“We’re just trying not to [think ahead] on expectations,” Barrett said. “We still want to finish top  at state, but we’re focusing on what’s happening day to day.”