Manhattan High girls swim and dive has had a total of eight meets and have wrapped up their regular season with several qualifiers for the Centennial League meet. 

At the Topeka West invite on April 16th the team placed first out of nine teams. The team’s Hayden invite on April 23 was cancelled after team warms ups, due to a tornado warning issued in Olathe. The team placed third out of nine-teams at the Marion Invite April 24. 

Now that the waters have settled on the regular season, head coach Alex Brown only requires those that will be swimming at the league meet and then State to come to practice for the remainder of the year.

“At first I was kind of scared because I have never swam before and I just wasn’t really sure what it would be like coming into this blind, but as the season progressed and the team got closer I really started to love it,” freshman Grace Seibel said. “In the end, I’m glad I did it… because I met some great people and made new friends on the team.” 

Practices have become more specialized, focusing on technique and endurance. Coaches work closely, analyzing performances from the regular season to identify areas for improvement and peak performance potential. Swimmers concentrate on shaving seconds off their times through technique adjustments and interval training, while the team’s only sophomore diver, Layla Schwabauer, practices her approaches, takeoffs, flips, turns and entries to maximize scores in Topeka with diving coach Katelyne Herrington.

“The goal is clear: to perform the absolute best we can at League to get as many people as we can  to state,” senior Amanda Loherntz said

The end of the regular season marks a pivot point. It’s a time for the swimmers to look at the previous seasons and meets and hopefully see themselves achieve personal bests, secure State spots and end the season with a good team standing. The dedication shown throughout the demanding regular schedule now fuels the focused preparation for the season’s end. The coming weeks show the team’s hard work and determination as they prepare to make their final push this season. 

“Swimming really means a lot to me for many reasons,” senior Kenna Mason said. “What I’ll miss most about this sport isn’t the swimming itself, it will be the team and the people I met through the sport.”