Swimming and Diving Prepares for Metro Meet

The girls and boys swim teams will travel to the Metro Conference meet this weekend. The prelims are on Friday, February 8th and the finals are on Saturday, February 9th.  Annika Wilmers is a swimmer for the girls team and she said she is confident due to the preparation her team has put in.

I think we are more than ready for Metros. We have been putting in the hard work every day, and we are the hardest working team in state. So I think we can have some great personal bests and qualify more people for state,” Wilmers said.

Not only has Wilmers and her team put in a ton of physical work, but they have also done mental training called “cyber training”.

“We have started doing our cyber training in our final weeks. Cyber training is mental preparation, breathing techniques and visualization. Cybers really benefit me personally and I think it helps most of the team relax and have fun with our swims”. Wilmers said.

This is Wilmers’ junior year so she is a veteran on the swim team with a lot of experience. Wilmers said she feels like this will help her at this year’s metros because she is more used to being there.

“I have been to metro for the past two years, this is my third year, and I think this is the first year that I am actually going in with an open mind, no worry and complete relaxation to have fun and swim fast,” Wilmers said.

On the boys side, senior Jackson Hanus said that his team’s goal is to win metros. He also feels like his team’s recent success, including a win at home in the Westside Invite on January 26th, will help them at metros.

“We are very confident for metros because we have been swimming really well at the past few meets,” Hanus said.

In the diving competition, Westside sent two boys and four girls on Thursday. In the girls meet, Gretchen Nelson and Parker Harrell both made the cut and moved into the finals. Nelson placed 14th with a score of 263.65 and Harrell placed 16th with a score of 251.35. In addition, Nina Boarts and Olivia Davis did not make the cut. Boarts placed 18th with a score of 176.35 and Davis placed 23rd with a score of 87.55. In the boys meet, Ian Andress and Spencer Schneiderman both advanced to the finals! Andress placed 7th with a score of 320.50 and Schneiderman placed 15th with a score of 240.30.