As the season hits its home stretch, the State High Swim Team looks to finish the year strong at the PIAA State Championships on March 12-15 at the Bucknell University Natatorium. Both the boys and girls teams took home the District VI Championship in dominating fashion on Feb. 21 and 22.
The girls team finished the regular season undefeated in dual meets with an astounding 9-0 record. The Little Lions took home the Mid Penn Commonwealth Championship on Feb. 7 and 8.
Coming into the season, the team expected three swimmers to stand out as leaders and swimmers, and they did not disappoint. Junior Molly Workman and senior Madison Watschke consistently dominated their respective events on the girls side, and senior Sam Huggins proved to be one of the fastest male freestyle swimmers in Pennsylvania.
In several meets, Workman led multiple freestyle relay teams to wins and won the 50, 100, and 200 yard freestyle each time she swam the events. To many, it seemed as if Workman was breaking records every meet, a lot of the time the records were her own. Earlier this year, Workman committed to the University of Virginia, which is currently ranked first in the CSCAA Top 25 Poll, to continue her swimming career.
Workman, daughter of Head Coach Aaron Workman and Assistant Coach Jamie Workman, spoke on the unique experience of being coached by her parents.
“They make sure to keep me accountable and, you know, whenever we’re going fast or doing pace, that I need to be hitting those times, so that I’m not slacking off,” she said. “But yeah, they just support me and cheer me on when we get to those big meets.”
Throughout her prolific season, Molly Workman fought through a back injury that at times limited her practice schedule. Aaron Workman mentioned how she was able to continue to impress despite the injury.
“Molly is an athlete that’s been able to understand the highs and lows of the sports and maintain a good mindset through the ups and downs and I think that’s what’s helped her be successful,” he said.
Similarly, Watschke, a Miami University (OH) commit, found herself frequently atop the leaderboard in many strokes; winning IMs, medley relays, freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke events. A swiss army knife of sorts, Watschke had arguably her best performance at districts, setting a school and district record in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:02.92.
Huggins is a swimmer that you literally cannot miss, standing at 6 feet 8 inches tall. He dominated the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle all year, and anchored many successful relay teams. Huggins received an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina, and he will be swimming there next year. Huggins also had a very successful district meet, setting a District VI record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:38.71.
Aaron Workman noted Huggins’ UNC commitment as a turning point in his performance in the pool. “I think when he was offered the opportunity to be able to study and swim there, there was a lot of pressure, a lot of anxiety from making that decision that he was, you know, able to get off his shoulders and really concentrate on swimming,” he said.
Molly Workman commented on how proud she is of Watschke and Huggins and the success that they have had this season.
“They are my best friends, and it’s just so much fun seeing them improve and do well, and the two of them, they push me the hardest in practice so I owe a lot of my accomplishments to them and how they keep me accountable,” she said.
After a very successful season so far, the girls team looks at states as a meet that they can really compete in. Finishing fourth in the past two years, the team looks to improve on that and take the State Championship.
“Looking at the meet and how we prepared for districts, we’re always looking at trying to qualify as many kids as we can for the state meet,” Aaron Workman said. “We have 17 going this year, so we’re really excited about the opportunity and it should be a fun weekend.”
The boys team has had it rough this season, constantly battling injuries and illnesses, but it has managed to keep its head above water and finished third in the Mid Penn. Despite a tough season, the team has a lot of underclassmen talent in swimmers like freshman Evan Koehle and sophomore Luke Flickinger, showing a promising future for the boys program.
The team is back in action March 12-15 when they compete in the PIAA 3A State Championship at Bucknell.
