Seniors looking forward to last swim meet

Anyone to qualifying for an event where the best competitors from around the state are there is a feat. For five seniors on the Washington Water Sharks, it means more than that.

Seniors Alijah Beatty, Nic Rath, Sarah Miles, Victor Miller and Noah Bruns are representing the team at the state level for the final time this weekend.

?It?s an awesome feeling,? Miles says. ?It means a lot. It?s our last year here and we made it to state.?

?Just knowing that it?s our last meet that we will ever swim in as a high-schooler means a lot,? Beatty said.

The group has put in numerous hours in the water to get to this point.

?I?ve been swimming in the Y?s pool for the past nine years along with Victor,? Bruns said.

Miles has been swimming for the past 11 years. She says she has put in 92 hours toward a Silver Cord helping the younger swimmers and ?I know I?ve put in at least that much in practice.?

Rath has only been swimming in the Y pool for the past three years.

?I don?t have as much experience as the others, but I had to practice a lot harder to compete at their level and had to be in swim club and high school just to get to this level. It?s been really fun.?

The team has also had many challenges. ?We?re good at flip turns because of the smaller pool,? Miles says.

?In between the flip turns, we maybe only do 15 yards of swimming. It would  be nice to have a 25-yard pool to get more lengths in.

?It also gives more space for the number of kids we have and we are getting more on the team, too.?

?What is really bad is having no land lines,? Rath says. ?When people are sprinting, it feels like you?re swimming an ocean because there?s nothing to stop the waves at all.?

?We?ve worked our butts off to get to state,? Beatty says.

Having the smaller pool means the swimmers have an additional challenge when swimming at state.

?I definitely have to mentally prepare myself for everything when I?m swimming in a bigger pool? Miles says.

?I have to think about the extra yardage that I?m going to have to swim. That?s why I don?t normally swim longer events because they are a lot harder for me.?

?I don?t try to think about it,? Rath says. ?I just keep my head down, kick hard and don?t die.?

?The main thing is to just keep going,? Beatty says. ?Just keep looking to where you want to go. The goal is to finish.?

Coaching the team is Brenda Adrian, who has had a big impact in their lives.

?I?ve been swimming on the team for the past 15 years,? Beatty says, ?and she?s been my coach the entire time.

?Her family and my family have always been really close. This is her last year and I?m happy to be part of the last group going to state.?

?She?s my favorite coach that I?ve ever had,? Miles said.

?She understands if you have to miss a couple days because you aren?t feeling well, have homework, or have to participate in another sport. She works with your schedule.?

For the seniors as well as the 24 others heading to state, the competition hasn?t been easy.

?We have meets pretty much every Saturday,? Miles says. ?We have to attend at least three to advance to sectionals.

?There, we have to make time, which was really hard this year. And if we make time or get first in our events, we go on to state. That just makes practice more important.?

?For me, it?s a given that we?ll make it to state,? Rath said. ?It?s when we get to state, we have to go prepared to show our best.?

At the state meet, the group will be part of more than 450 other competitors.

What is it like for them to be part of such a large group?

?We are going to win it all,? Bruns said with confidence.

?I look at it that we are going to just do the best that we can,? Beatty says.

?We just put it all out in the pool. My goal is to beat my times that I have now.?

Miles? goal is ?to just have fun. Most of us know we won?t get first place in our event. So, just having fun is our goals.?

After everything is over the seniors will have great memories.

?The most part of the swim team here is being part of a family,? Beatty says. ?It?s going to be hard to leave them.?

?I would like to be remembered as someone who won first,? Rath said.

?When the little kids grow up and want to be just like me and want to get involved in younger kids? lives,? Miles says.

?When I was younger, the older swimmers always played with us, talked with us and included us in everything.

?That was my goal, to include them this year, to try and include them and encourage them to do that when they are older.?

As for their future, swimming will still be part of their lives. ?I?d like to come back as a coach,? Beatty said.

?In the future, I?m going to become a bazillionaire and build a new pool,? Bruns said.

?I?ve been swimming in this four-lane, 20-yard pool for nine years. It has really put an effect on us.?

The 29 Water Shark swimmers have been practicing since Nov. 1, and will take to the water in Marshalltown at the Linda Bloom Natatorium Saturday, March 4 and 5.