Prep swimmers end season with fun

Voice of the student athlete, by Whitney Bostick

On Saturday another group of Valley seniors drew closer to the end of their high school swimming and diving careers.

At Wasilla Pool after the six rounds of diving those Valley seniors were recognized by their teams, with a few words and bags of presents to keep the fond memories of the years on the team alive. Some of those memories were shared with the crowd of parents and friends who were there to watch the meet, some through misty eyes. A few Palmer seniors remembered jumping rope with kelp on the Homer spit, and a few others on the Colony team reminisced about karaoke sessions in the locker rooms.

This wasn't the only time during the meet that laughter rose from the stands the Wasilla squad allowed quite the entertainment during the varying relays, varying in more ways than one. The divers even had a final round of diving to show their creative flair of coming up with pseudo dives to splash judges and get laughter for their efforts. The Valley's only dive coach was even convinced to participate in the fun. The swim coaches also participated with the swimmers, some using a little extra help, in a few relays and even the 100 meter butterfly in which Palmer head coach Tim Lundt prevailed over one of his own swimmers.

The meet continued to be full of fun and games until the last possible moment. Some of the PHS senior girls tried their hand at a little synchronized swimming, and we decided that it wasn't a very graceful one. However we got even with laughing teammates by giving them a toss in the pool, whether in swim suits or dressed to go home for the day.

Although the entire meet was not about laughter, this was the last meet at home for the Valley seniors, and for some, is sign of only one more meet this season.

As a few seniors looked back over the season all of them agreed it had gone well. I am a senior this year, it's been interesting being one of the oldest members on the team, and not have anyone above you to turn to. Brandon Bruns, a senior swimmer for Colony's team said that he tries not to think about it to much but he just tries to be the nicest person he can. On the other hand Hal Willardson, PHS diver, had thought about it a little. "It's a lot of responsibility; you can't slack off because the other teammates will follow. When I was a freshman Eric Hansen was a senior and he helped me get to state because of his hard work ethic. The younger people on the team need the older teammates so they'll push themselves."

The Palmer team hopes that even without Eric, Hal will do outstanding at state this year.

Sarah Meneghin another senior swimmer on Colony's team also was happy to be a senior and have other swimmers looking up to her and her old teammates. "I think it's great they do. It's a great feeling to know I'm leaving something behind and taking something with me." All of us will be taking quite a bit with us from this meet and the many others to our future experiences but the end is looming not too far in the distance.

As Palmer senior swimmer and diver Bryan Scorseby described the difference between this season to the many others, "The only difference is thoughts of not being here next year, and the thoughts of being at college."

I would like to personally wish good luck to all the seniors in all the sports for one last great season.

Whitney Bostick is a senior at Palmer High School and a member of the Moose swim team.