The girls swimming team has just come off of a pretty great 2018 season in which they won the state championships. The team was made up of a collection of many skilled swimmers that helped them in winning states. The girls can not take this year’s schedule lightly if they want to repeat as state champs. 

The team won the state championship in 2004, and 2011-2016 and are now on the hunt for their 10th title. That is impressive! The team is made up of 42 hardworking and talented girls with Dan McBride as their head coach who is in his 31st season. They start chasing that 10th championship at 6 am with practice and then go to school. They are up early enough to watch the sunrise, and I commend them for that, I would not have the will to do that. 

These girls have a balance between school and athletics, which can be hard for some students. As an athlete I can understand if these swimmers are stressed with the amount of homework and studying they have to do. When asked about balancing all the work, freshman Mary McKenna said, “Keeping up with my school work and sleep has been very important. Making sure I keep my grades up and getting to practice is hard but it’s what I like and we have a good team.” Mary is qualified in the 500 freestyle for this years New York State Championships. Mary is also qualified for the 800 and 1500 freestyle at the U.S Open at Georgia Tech in December. 

We also asked senior captions Briana Gellineau, Lilly Lancellotti, and Gracie Edmonds about balancing school work and athletics. Briana told us, “setting apart time for studying is a real thing. Freshman year I felt like, I will get to my studies later, but you can’t forget about your school work and do it later. There’s no later you have to be able to figure out a schedule.” Lilly agreed with Briana saying, “I totally agree, swimming and school require a lot of time. You have to manage your skills. It’s hard sometimes but it teaches you how to be good with your time.” Briana qualified for states in the 100 and 200 freestyle. Lilly’s main event is the 100 backstroke, and occasionally the 400 freestyle relay and the 100 butterfly.  

Gracie also talked about time management saying, “Yes, you have to know how to handle your time and even now I still have to remind myself to make sure I pay attention to my time, but we have a great team and everyone gets everything done.” The most important thing when balancing school and athletics, is time management. 

The journey to states is not an easy one. This year the team can win their 10th championship, which is very exciting. McKenna was asked, What’s been the most exciting part about being a friar and swimmer and anticipation of the team getting its 10th championship? She answered, “It’s a good feeling but I do get nervous at the meets and making sure I do well is important. I’m excited to swim for SA and look forward to champs.” This year’s state championship is at Ithaca College from November 21 through 23, where we hope they do very well! The girls must be very excited to go upstate. It can be very hard to sit in a car for up to 5 hours, but they have each other to pass the time. 

We asked the seniors on the team, what’s the most exciting part of being on the swim team? Briana said, “We definitely have some really good swimmers and freshman swimmers.” Lilly went more in depth saying, “It’s great having them here; they are the most friendly and really exciting to see all of them swim. They have so much energy. The atmosphere is great with this whole team. Watching the freshmen grow from the beginning of the season is exciting. Everyone is kind of nervous at the beginning but we get along so well and have so much fun.” Lastly, Gracie answered the question saying, “They are really free and superfast and super great we have so much fun. We all get along! It will be so exciting at champs we can’t wait.” The team has a great energy surrounding them.

The next meet is on October 29 at 6 pm at Chaminade against Sacred Heart. The athletes are ready to test the waters that lie ahead. Go Friars!

Araceli Ponce is a freshman at Saint Anthony’s High School, writing for her first year at Friar Scoreboard. She is also a member of Saint Anthony’s track team. In the future she plans to have a career in the field of sports or architecture.