Avery Boulware, Campus Carrier Sports Editor
After a long winter break of intense training, the Berry men’s and women’s swimming and diving team defeated LaGrange College on Saturday in their dual meet. The men’s team scored 189 against LaGrange’s 51, and the women’s team won 184-36.
Saturday’s meet was an off-event meet, which means that most of the athletes competed in races they don’t typically swim. The Vikings came out with wins in 27 of 29 events, and had swimmers in all but two events.
Standout swimmers include Spanjers, who set a new school record in the 1000 freestyle, freshman Leigh Hadaway, who had a season-best time in the 50 freestyle, and senior Cameron Grant, who had season-best times in both the 100 freestyle and 50 butterfly.
“It’s so exciting, even though we’ve been working really hard and haven’t had much rest, everyone has already improved their time,” senior Janelle Spanjers said. “So I’m really impressed. Everyone is already doing really well.”
Freshman Frankie Reda, part of Berry’s first diving team, secured new all-time high score and set a school record in the 1 meter diving event with a score of 231.65.
The swimming and diving teams train rigorously throughout the year to stay in shape and prepare for the conference meet.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of hours, both in the weight room and in the pool,” Spanjers said.
The team trained in Miami over winter break, with 14 practices and a meet in nine days.
“January and February are always crazy because we’re winding down the season but still trying to put in as much time and effort as possible before the big meet,” senior Stephanie Stadnick said. “It’s a lot to handle.”
But because of the amount of time spent together in practice and meets, the swimming and diving team has become a close-knit community.
“We support and encourage each other on and off the pool deck,” Spanjers said. “I’m blessed to have wonderful friends and teammates.”
Berry swimming and diving has one last meet for the season, the Viking Classic, which will be held on Saturday. After that, the Vikings will be preparing for the SAA conference championship.
“I think we’ll place well [in conference],” junior Joey Ellwanger said. “A full team is 18 and we only have 16, so we’re a little short. That might hurt us a bit. I think individually we’ll get lots of first, second, third place. But I don’t know if we’ll get the highest team score. We’re going for second place.”
