Photo by Ally Griffith
A Q&A with freshman Varsity swimmer Maeve Linscott, a Kansas City Swim Academy club swimmer who has already achieved two state cuts in 100 fly and 100 breast.
How did you get started in swimming?
My brother and sister [got me started] through Indian Hills, which is our country club. So I just started doing it with them, and when they started club swimming when they were nine and 10, I started a little younger when I was about seven or eight. Then I just really liked it so I kept going with it.
What are you looking forward to for your first season swimming for East?
I really just like the team and I think it’s really fun. I like Ian — he was my club coach when I was in third or fourth grade so it’s kind of cool to reconnect with him a little bit and see how training is different from when we were younger. I’m just really excited for state and to see how fast everyone goes.
What are your goals for the season?
I want to swim 100 breast and 100 fly at state and then two relays, but I don’t really care which ones. For my breast I want to try to get top three or four at state and I want to go a 1:05 or under if I can, but I mean that would be ideal; I would freak out if I went that. And then for 100 fly my goal is probably just to get like top four. I just want to kind of race that one because I don’t think I’ve gotten close to how fast I can go in that one yet so I just want to try to race and go as fast as I can.
What are your best times in 100 breast and fly?
My best time in 100 fly is a minute flat, which is kind of interesting because I went that on Tuesday and [Friday] with a practice suit. And then my 100 breast is a 1:07.
What has been your favorite part about swimming at East so far?
Training is a different style than we do at club swimming so it’s been hard but I really like everyone that’s swimming with me and it’s just been really fun to go through it with everyone. And since we haven’t had meets [until recently], it’s just been a lot of training but I think we’ve had a lot of fun leading up to it.
How is training for club different than in high school?
In club, Mary Jo, [my coach] does Ultra Short Race Pace Training, which is based off what Michael Andrew does, who’s a really fast swimmer. So we do like sprint training where you just do a lot of repetitions at race speed. So club swimming is just that and then high school swimming is more traditional. So you do a lot more yardage and you’re not going necessarily as fast, but you’re building more endurance. So I think it’s honestly helping me a lot because I’m getting more endurance behind my speed that I got in club. So it’s kind of evening out which I think is going to help me.
How have you been preparing for the season?
I mean I don’t really have like an off-time for swimming, I’m just swimming all the time. So I think I’ve just been trying to swim as much as possible, and then I just started doing weights with a trainer and so I think that’s been helping me as well.
What’s your favorite stroke?
My favorite stroke is breastroke. I’m good at the 200 breast but I don’t really like it. I like the 100 breast a lot more.
What is the team’s attitude moving forward towards state?
I think we’re really positive about it, and I think we know that if we work really hard we have a chance of maybe not winning but at least getting top two. If we all swim out of our heads we might win, but there’s still a chance of that so I think it’s motivating us to work harder in practices and stuff. So we’re just really encouraging towards each other, and we’re building each other up so we can all go fast and have a chance at state.