The Manitou Springs High School girl’s swim team has had a great season.

The team has had several injuries that caused people to stop swimming for the rest of the season. Freshman Emily Doloff-Holt sustained a shoulder injury while swimming this season, and senior Alice VanDerveer had a knee injury from before the season.

The team has had a lot of wins, like Monday January 27th, when they won against Fountain Valley School in the last meet of the season. The final score was Manitou 114 points, Fountain Valley 53 points. The team pulled into a great finish, beating them in most of the events. Sophomore Veronica Morin was 4 seconds away from beating the school record in the 500 freestyle.

Veronica Morin and Samantha White are two of the most improved swimmers that the team has, and they both broke school records. White holds the school record for the 100 breaststroke and Morin holds the school record for the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. “I’ve been dropping so much time, I haven’t stayed at a time for months, so I’m ready to drop more,” said White.

The team has had a lot of success, but the team that stayed in the lead was Cheyenne Mountain High School, which is rated as 2nd in the state for swimming. Cheyenne Mountain has a total 16 qualifiers for state. When Manitou started at the beginning of the season to only have 4 people going to state, but as the season was heading to an end, the team now has 9 qualifiers and 7 Alternates going to state. Coach Roy Chaney said that the girls who qualified had “shown great attitude, motivation, and maturity. Swimmers also were chosen based on times. Exceptions would be captains as they have taken on a leadership role, gave their best over 4 years and showed improvement throughout the season.”

The team dominated at League Championships on Thursday and Friday, February 7 and 8. The team was behind at the start but then the team pulled it together and won for the second year in a row.  Most of the team made it into finals (Febuary 8) in individual events or relays. For leagues only four swimmers per event and two relays were allowed.

When the team won the 200 medley relay Veronica Morin said: “One of my proudest moments on the team was when we won the 200 medley at the Hornet invite, because our whole team kinda pulled together and it was really cool to see everyone down there cheering.”

Much of the team’s success stems from the fact that it is such a supportive environment, which is uncommon in high school swim. Many of the swimmers describe the team as like a family, and the entire team cheers on each swimmer in each event, and welcomes brand new swimmers to the team. It’s been that way for years, too. 2009 Manitou graduate and exchange student Sara Ryttberg said, “It’s a great experience and everyone should try it.”

The swim team gave it all they had. They gave it a good start and an even stronger finish!

 By Ashley Rodriguez