On Monday, Feb. 9, families, friends and athletes gathered in the Manitou Springs Pool and Fitness Center for an unconventional senior night. This year, the girls Swim and Dive team held a senior night “event” instead of the traditional senior night which would consist of speeches in the middle of a swim meet.
The night consisted of traditional senior night elements, such as photo opportunities, senior speeches and senior gifts. Following those traditions, the girls had an opportunity to showcase the things that they’d been working on all season. The coaches picked out swim events that showed the skills the girls had worked hard for and the divers showed their top for dives.
This season has been challenging for the girls. The team’s home pool, the Manitou Springs Pool and Fitness Center, was closed for renovations during the season. Without their own pool to swim in, the girls had to swim late practices at the Woodland Park Aquatic Center, and then at Coronado High School’s pool.
Whitney Nuci, the team’s head coach, believes that despite the difficulties from being displaced from their home pool, the girls still did well. “It’s hard that they weren’t able to experience a home meet,” she said, “but I think this season went really well because they were able to use a little bit of that uncomfortableness and have that fuel them in meets and in practices. They really showed what Manitou is like. Yes, we’re small, but we can compete.”
Lisa Korbitz, the dive coach and assistant swim coach, felt like the girls really showed who they were this season. “The girls never really knew where we were practicing on what certain day and I think they persevered through all of that super well; so we didn’t want to take away a good senior night from our girls,” she said.
Nuci didn’t want the girls to have their senior night be in a pool that wasn’t theirs. “We did consider doing senior night at one of our meets within our league, a lot of other teams this year ended up doing it that way, but that just didn’t necessarily sit well with us,” she said.
Nuci believes that the new form of senior night presented athletes and parents with a good opportunity for them to see the new pool and for the athletes to be able to showcase some of their skills. “We don’t have very many schools that are close so it didn’t make sense to have senior night at them,” she said. “I didn’t want to put that on parents to travel all the way to Salida or La Junta.”
Krissy Stout, a senior and the Spirit Leader for the team, felt like the new senior night was better. “I liked that we were able to show off our skills while not having to do a whole meet. It was more directed towards the seniors, where it’s not just a blip in a meet,” she said. “I’m really glad that we were able to find a way for us to do senior night at our own pool.”
The coaches also used senior night to announce this year’s state team. “We made T-shirts for all the girls that were on the state team, and didn’t let anybody know who was going until that night,” Korbitz said. “We put the shirt in front of each girl who made state and every single one of them got a T-shirt.”
The entire team going to state is not typical. “There was a lot of reflection on the fact that we are a smaller team this year,” Nuci said. “It didn’t sit well with us that we would be separating the team that’s already small and already so bonded, potentially breaking them apart and pulling some of the support away from the biggest meet of the year.”
Stout believes that, despite the challenges, the team had a good year. “I feel like most of the girls are really happy with how the season ended up,” she said. “All of us are going to state this year, so I feel that it is definitely a big motivator.”
Nuci hopes to continue this format for senior nights in the coming years. “I think that it was a better celebration for our seniors. It was a lot more personable, a lot more interactive, and I think a lot more enjoyable for them,” she said. “It actually was that true celebration and form, and was also a really great way to end the traditional part of the season before moving into that state meet.”
