On Dec. 2, the State High swim team opened their season with a home quad meet against North Allegheny, Emmaus and Mercersburg. The team was led by junior Sam Huggins, who has verbally committed to the University of North Carolina, and sophomore Molly Workman.
Swimmer sophomore Emerson Gratz shared her thoughts just before the meet on the upcoming season.
“I’m really excited for the start of the season,” Gratz said, “I think our team has really expanded and we have so many new swimmers. We’ve really prepared, we’ve put in the work, and I think we’re ready to go get it.”
In the 200 yard freestyle relay, Madison Watschke, Grace Carrington, Kelly Brownstead, Molly Workman placed first and broke a State High pool record with a time of one minute, 36.85 seconds.
In addition to the girls’ 200 yard medley relay, the girls also won the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and the 200 yard freestyle relay, while also placing second in the 500 yard freestyle.
Workman has been on the State High swim team for two years and has been competitively swimming since she was five years old. She placed first in the girls’ 50 yard freestyle, breaking the previous record with a time of 23.47 seconds.
Workman also won the 100 yard freestyle, breaking the pool record. She held the record for less than an hour until Mercersburg’s Crystal Yuen broke it leading off their 400 Freestyle relay. Workman was very pleased with how the meet went for the team.
Workman wrote in an email, “I was proud of my teammates for the way they kept the environment fun throughout the meet and that we were able to break the 200 free relay pool record. There is always room for improvement, and I believe that our team will go on to do great things this season!”
Sophomore Sydney Barshinger, who swam the 200 and 400 yard freestyle relays reflected on her performance in both of the events. “I was really happy that I got a pretty good split for being a distance swimmer who’s not a sprinter.”
For the boys, Sam Huggins won the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1.40.21, over four seconds faster than Mercersburg’s Thomas Cechini, who placed second. The boys also placed second in the boys 100 yard backstroke and fourth in the 50 yard freestyle. During the 50 yard freestyle, two swimmers from Emmaus tied second and third with a score of 22.14 seconds, just .29 seconds ahead of State High.
There is lots of uncertainty about the rest of the season, with many new swimmers joining the team, but Workman and Huggins have the team on track to continue its winning ways. The Little Lions return to the pool for their next meet at Chambersburg on Dec. 12, and their next home meet is on Jan. 9. They hope to build off of last year’s success, with plenty more records broken along the way.
