The Parkway North swim team began the season facing several new challenges and opportunities including not having a pool to swim in.
“I’m sad that the pool is closed because now we have to practice at Pattonville which takes even longer than it takes at Parkway North,” senior Alex Tycksen said.
The swimming pool started getting work in July and won’t be finished until late November which has caused issues due to the pool being closed and having to practice and have meets at different schools such as Pattonville.
“It is forcing us to travel on a daily basis to Pattonville. They have been very kind to give us part of their pool to train in. It is not ideal. However, it is better than not having one at all. We will not have a home meet all season, so we have to travel all the time to get to meets and practice,” said varsity coach Bart Prosser.
Last year, the team was pretty young with only two seniors including senior Patrick McCollum, who broke the 100 freestyle record set in 1998. This year, the team is young once again with only one senior and several new members, but they still have goals in mind.
“Beating my old records means I’m improving but due to my age (I am an old swimmer). It’s hard for me to break old records. The only way to be fast is to swim faster in practice while working on small things like flip turns, starts, and finishes,” Tycksen said.
Next year, many current swimmers will be returning to the team to try to improve their times.
“I think next year is going to go good. We will be missing one senior – which that’s not the best – but I think we will gain more seniors, so it will probably be a pretty good year,” junior Aidan Workman said.
Besides having new swimmers, the team also went to the Lindbergh Invitational on Sept. 28, for the first time, with seven other teams.
“I felt good about it, and it was a good meet to compete with some of the best teams in the state. I did pretty well. I dropped time in all of my races, but there are many things I can improve on,” junior Kane Powell said.
At the Lindbergh Invite, the team finished seventh overall with only eight swimmers because the others had other commitments like a band competition.
“I think I did well. I lost a lot of times before, so I went better, way better so yeah I did pretty good,” Workman said.
Parkway North swimmers have faced several new challenges this season including the addition of new team members, the temporary closure of their home pool, and the introduction of a new invitational meet. Despite these obstacles, the swimmers are determined to improve their performance. Their next meet is at Ritenour Swimming Pool vs. Ritenour at 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 15.
