Lincoln East Swim and Dive made a splash at the Lincoln East vs. Lincoln Southwest dual at Lincoln Southwest on Thursday, November 30, 2023. East won the meet by 57.5 points (127.5 -70.5), doing something that they haven’t done in over a decade. The success followed the girls from last year, as East girls were HAC champions, as well as a sixth place finish at the NSAA state swimming and diving championships in the 2022-2023 season. As performance and talent have come into a play on making this team and success, talent only goes so far. How do these girls keep the success going? Through the team environment, which has been growing since covid-19, after the girls were separated, leaving a strain on the team bond.
“When I was a freshman, it was still the middle of covid, so we weren’t really able to do any team bonding,” Avery Smith, senior, said. “Over my four years we’ve definitely spent more time getting to know each other as a whole team, and I think it created a really positive environment.”
The team environment focuses on including everyone, no matter your talent or ability. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the team was divided into multiple groups, less team bonding, as well as not getting to know your teammates as well. Past upperclassmen have done an excellent job in bringing the once divided team together again. The seniors this year are especially stressing getting to know everyone on your team, everyone is included and feels welcome.
“We really emphasized including between grades,”’ Sofia Aguilar, senior, said. “We also made sure we didn’t separate people just because they were in different grades.”
The girls raised the city of Lincoln’s standards on November 30 by throwing down some excellent swims, including multiple event wins, as well as getting East’s A, B, and C 200 freestyle relay finishing first, second, and third. East’s diving team set the standard for the swimmers, with Sophia Roberts, a sophomore, winning the diving portion of the meet (185.25). Following her was Mira Johnson, junior, (184.73), and third place belonged to Sky York, a freshman (180.30). The team’s next meet will take place on Saturday, December 9 at Ralston High School.
