Not a Coincidence: The girls swim and dive team is determined to win state

This wasn’t superstition. This was serious business. 

On the first night of preliminary competition — the first day of girls swim and dive state championships — Senior Captain Georgia Boyd’s dad, Rick, was frantically driving around Topeka, Kansas to find a remote for the hotel TV. Twenty varsity swim girls were about to pile into a hotel room to watch the classic movie, “Miracle”. 

With candy and snacks in hand, upperclassmen reclined on the bed as the others scrambled to find a prime floor spot. The room fell silent as the opening credits rolled.

“We all take this movie so seriously,” senior Natalie Jones said. “We’re cheering when they win and sad when they lose, it's so fun.”

The swimmers leaned in to watch the story about the U.S.A men’s hockey team's triumphant feat over Russia in the 1980s Olympics. That same year, the SM East girls swim and dive team won state. 

Now, forty-six years later, both the USA men’s and women’s hockey teams won gold at the Olympics. This was the first time the men’s team had won since the “Miracle” movie, and the girls don’t believe it was just a coincidence. Especially after the SM East boys swim and dive team won state this year. 

Since these coincidences were discovered, “Swimmy” — the Snapchat girls varsity group chat — has been pinging with excitement.

“There's been so many coincidences and signs that it's just pointing us to hope and motivation,” Junior captain Vada Walsh said. “All of us are really willing to go all out this year. And all of our hard work is gonna pay off if we are willing to put in work.”

For the past ten years, the girls swim and dive program has consistently earned a podium position at state, but fallen short of first place. This year, due to shifting rosters at competitor schools and the addition of promising freshmen to the SM East team, the program is entering the season with high hopes and many coincidences to bring home a state championship. 

In addition to the team’s support from head coach Chris Copeland and varsity captains Walsh and Boyd, the team has a new supporter: Jack Hughes, the 2026 USA hockey player who scored the game-winning goal.

With an American flag draped over his shoulder, missing a bloody tooth and a fist pumped in the air, his photo is taped to the wall of the SM East pool. Watching over the team, he’s a reminder of the team’s end goal — gold — or in this case, a state championship.

“The way I’m looking at [the season] is like, ‘Why not?’” Boyd said. “I want every person going into practice and giving it their all, like ‘Why not give it your all? What are we holding back for?’ I really want to have a big team aspect for it, everyone having each other’s back and just pushing themselves.”

Contrary to other schools, the SM East girls swim team is each other’s supporters, not competitors. No matter the person, grade or stroke, the team will always be at the end of the lane with ear-piercing cheers. 

“We're all each other's biggest cheerleaders,” Walsh said. “We’re all at the end of every single lane for every single person in the race, screaming our heads off.” 

The newest — and youngest — additions to the varsity swim team are freshmen Charlie Harris and Teni Oyetunji.

Harris, who has only swam competitively for four years, is already club teammates with a few varsity players. Her strength in breaststroke will add the much-needed depth to the varsity — they’ll have solid swimmers in every event according to Copeland. 

“The boys basically won because of their depth,” Copeland said. “Even in our second-place finish last year, we didn’t win one first place. It all comes back to numbers; quality and quantity.”

Due to Harris and Oyetunji, the SM East swim team will be able to enter all four swimmers in every event, accumulating their points at state.

But no matter the results at state, the SM East swim team is bringing the Olympian energy with them wherever they go. It’s been ten years since they won state, and the team has been given a good hand for the season according to Walsh. 

“It’s our turn,” Walsh said. “This is our sign. This is our movie. This is our year."