In the world of competitive swimming, the battle against the clock is relentless. Hard work at hours and hours of early morning practice and late night swim meets, all to drop just .1 seconds of time. A team of aquatic athletes, pushing through these difficulties with lots of hard work, all working towards the same goal; time drops and point scoring.
Unity, one of Urbana high schools core values, is clearly represented on the Urbana High School Swim team. Delaney Sargent, a junior at Urbana High School and a swim team athlete, encourages you to join the team and embrace a new opportunity to challenge yourself. “My favorite part is the meets because we all come together and work super hard. And we’re always cheering on our team.” If you’ve ever attended a swim meet, as a participant or a spectator, you’ve likely experienced the loud cheering as teams race against each other. Although swimming may not be the most common sport, the athletes are still very enthusiastic when it comes to the competition.
This team is also a great opportunity if you are looking to expand your social circle. Sarah Kurylo, a social butterfly on the team, says “An accomplishment I have made this year was getting to meet a lot of new team members.” Not only is practice a way to make new friends, but this year the team hosted several socials, including pasta parties, top golf, buffalo wild wings, bowling, and team breakfasts at iHop “The best part of the team this year compared to last year was the pasta parties. I love pasta, and it was fun getting to know my teammates away from the pool deck.” Stated sophomore Ayden Savage.
The Urbana swim team saw a lot of ups and a few downs during the 2023-2024 Winter Sports season. The team was undefeated all season, until the last dual meet against Oakdale, a very close loss. This didn’t come as a surprise however, because Oakdale has always been Urbana Swims top competition. At the county meet, Urbana boys and girls placed second, and at the regional meet, boys won and girls got second. The state meet was very competitive and the team did not do so well, however it is impressive enough that the team had 22 swimmers who qualified!
The season has now come to an end, but looking back the team and coaches are very proud of this season. The team collectively saw lots of time drops and had a lot of wins this season. Hopefully learning about this high school sport inspired you to maybe try out next year, or at least go spectate a meet!
