The Lincoln East Swim team had yet another strong performance on January 18th during their duel with Lincoln High. The meet took place at Lincoln High School and both the boys and girls teams were victorious, each defeating the Links by over 100 points. The Spartans reveal a powerful field as the gear up for the finale of their season.

Since there was a less competitive field during this meet due to the fact that Lincoln High’s team is roughly half the size of East’s squad, the Spartans had to look for a new way to challenge themselves. On the boys side, some of the most notable performances lied within the relay teams. Juniors Ian Paup and Matthew Schlegelmilch, sophomore Brodie Hoesing and freshmen Jadeon Carter and Reid Fredrick were the athletes that made up the winning relays. Carter and Schlegelmilch were on all 3 teams that claimed first. Schlegelmilch said that during the duel several athletes, including himself, swam “off events” or races that they typically wouldn’t compete in. Even so, the Spartan boys were a force to be reckoned with defeating the Links 145-36.

“Coach [Reiners] doesn’t give us a game plan…he gives us individualized [help]”, freshman Blake Schelgelmilch said. “We all know that he is looking for us to swim our hardest and fastest. He’s told us in practice this is the time to get faster and this is the time to get ready for state.”

The Spartans demonstrated this mentality by using one another to push themselves, especially on the girls’ side.

The girls team had quite the showing at the meet winning 139-43. They took first in every event across the board whether it was individual events or relays. That is a large feat that many teams can seldom say they have accomplished even against a less competitive team. Most of the swimmers swam four events. Sophomore Avery Smith was one of the standouts as she swam three relays and arguably one of the hardest races, the 500 freestyle.

“As a team I feel like we do a good job supporting each other throughout the races overall,” Smith said. “Everyone’s behind the lanes cheering. It’s a positive environment.”

The Spartans are set to compete on February 1st, the final meet of their season, in a triangular with Lincoln Northeast and Pius X at Northeast. They have big goals for their final stretch and hope to punch as many tickets to state as possible.