On the 24th of February, the PC North boys and girls swim teams competed at state,

with the girls finalists including, senior Emma Bailor, junior Maddison Keeton, sophomore

Scarlet Mathis, and senior Jordan Lent, and the boys finalists including junior Luke Engelmann,

freshman Xander Applegate, sophomore Brody Cunningham, and sophomore Colin Turbayne.

The girls also won the Academic All-State award. This is an amazing achievement for not only

the students involved, but also for the school.

For many athletes, it’s important to get into the right headspace while training. The PCN

swimmers had their routines that helped them to do that.

“I put my music in, and just kind of

locked in,

” Cunningham said. It was a matter of focusing on their performance.

“I think about the

race, and listen to music,

” Mathis said.

One of the reasons for the swim teams going to a state competition is to see what kind of

performances the swimmers can put on for all of their races after training hard for competition.

“The guys did really well. I liked all the dedication and work they all put in,

” Cunningham said.

The girls team also competed at the state competition “Most of the girls did well, but both of our

relays did get disqualified. The girls did well overall,

” Mathis said. Although they weren’t as

successful as they hoped to be, the experience will allow them to prepare and train for next

year.

After the competition was finished, the swimmers got to see their times.

“I was super

excited. I PR’d (personal record) by like one second,

” Cunningham said. The time that

Cunningham set is a new school record for a swim time. The girls team however, did not get a

final time. Making a school record is an outstanding accomplishment, especially by breaking it

by one second. In sports like swimming one second can make or break the win.

Of course, when competing there are things people do that they may regret, whether it is

the way that they trained or what they did during the races.

“I am going to work on not get dq’d

(disqualified) on our relays, practice more before my race, and not add time,

” said Mathis. They

can only improve upon their own skills and the sky’s the limit.

Regardless of any mistakes the swimmers may have made or during the, the team is still

proud of what they accomplished. The final tally resulted in the boys getting 7th place in the 200

freestyle relay, and 8th place in the 400 freestyle relay. Congratulations to all of the swimmers

who competed in state.