On the first day of swim tryouts, freshman Sarah Allegri swam at the back of the lane. She is a year-round, competitive swimmer. She feels comfortable in the water. But she didn’t want to go to the front. She was afraid to be “that” freshman who’s too full of herself. So she swam behind all of the upperclassmen, until the team did an aerobic swim test consisting of constant sprints, where Allegri managed to be the last one swimming. After out sprinting everyone, the freshman from the back of the lane moved up to the front of the lane, and easily made varsity.
Five other freshmen joined Allegri on the varsity team: Taylor Sawalich, Chloe Stanford, Mary Booton and Maddie Mann. And it’s not just the swim team; varsity girls’ soccer awarded positions to three freshmen: Adalaide Kline, Chloe Harrington and Georgia Weigle.
Most of these freshmen knew that they were going to make varsity coming into tryouts. Allegri, Sawalich, Stanford and Booton all swim for head swim coach Rob Cole at Kansas City Swim Academy. Stanford said he knew their team before they even tried out, so he used to joke around with the girls and say “two more years until you come swim with us.”
Kline and Weigle have played together on their club team, Sporting Blue Valley, for two years and Harrington has been playing with them for a year. Their team wasn’t a typical team — it belonged to the Elite Clubs National League (ENCL). Sporting Blue Valley defines ENCL as“the top youth female league in the United States”. According to Kline, it’s the best girl’s team you can be on, and requires intensive commitment and travel. Going into tryouts, these three girls were confident.
“I knew for sure that we weren’t going to make C-team,” Kline said. “But I just really wanted to make varsity so I had to try harder. I just had to act like I was going to get cut.”
Sawalich said she made a point to try hard and prove to everyone that she actually deserved to be on the team, even though she knew she was going to be on varsity.
“I tried to show everyone that I was good enough,” Sawalich said. “I wanted to earn my spot on the team.”
Even after making the team, the girls were still nervous. They wanted the older girls to be nice to them. Booton didn’t go to swim tryouts, so she was worried that the upperclassmen wouldn’t like her. But coach Cole reassured her that it wouldn’t be like that. Booton and the other swimmers agree that their team is close and it’s because everyone is so welcoming towards the freshmen. Senior Meg Stanley has been swimming on varsity since she was a freshman as well. Because of this, she is able to relate to these girls, which has strengthened their bond.
“We had about the same number of freshmen on varsity our freshman year,” Stanley said. “So as senior captains it helps us understand what it’s like to be a large freshman group. It’s really the senior’s job to make sure that the freshman feel welcomed, not intimidated, and since we were welcomed as freshmen it is really important to us to make sure the freshmen feel part of the team from the start.”
Kline, Harrington and Weigel were worried too, but for different reasons. Because the varsity soccer team had been playing together for so long, they didn’t want to mess it up. They wanted to be able to fit in.
“They’ve all played together for so long and are really close,” Harrington said. “So we have to figure out how they play with each other, because it’s kind of different than our club teams.”
Even though it’s nerve-racking, Kline says she likes getting to play with her role models. She’s always looked up to seniors Anna Colby and Addison Steiner, because they’ve been playing varsity since they were freshmen too. Kline is looking forward to her junior and senior seasons when other players will look up to her just like she looks up to Colby and Steiner. Because Colby has been in their position, she sees it as her responsibility to make the freshmen feel welcome.
“I feel more responsible to try to reach out to them because I know what it is like to be in their position,” Colby said. “And I think I can give them helpful advice for the same reason.”
For the swimmers, their role model is Stanley. Most of them know her from Swim Academy, and her understanding of what it’s like to be in their position has made it easy for them to relate to her. Specifically, Sawalich looks up to seniors Tiernan Shank and Elizabeth Bittiker because they are fast freestylers, and Booton looks up to senior Sarah Freshnock because she specializes in breaststroke. Sawalich says she tries to swim in her role models’ lane, so that she can work with them to improve her stroke.
“This group [of freshmen] is really, really fun,” Stanley said. “They aren’t afraid to be weird and goofy which is awesome because as a team we love being weird. The team loves getting to know the new freshman and it’s fun that they are excited to get to know us.”
Both the swimmers and soccer players believe they have a good chance at state. Stanford says winning state would be a cool experience, especially as a freshman. And she’s looking forward to team bonding and getting to know her teammates. But most importantly, Stanford and the other girls are excited for team t-shirts. Lots and lots of cute t-shirts.
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