Swim team faces challenge without pool to use

Catherine Valencia | staff writer

Without a pool to practice in, the swim team remains on the land to condition and prepare for the upcoming season.

With all of the restrictions due to COVID-19 this year, schools and other organizations have chosen not share their pool facilities. The pool the team practiced in at the Scott County YMCA until it permanently closed in July 2019 due to structural engineering concerns and the lack of funding for repairing the issues. The high school did not have its own pool and used the YMCA’s pool.

“I hope we have a season this year, but right now, I’m not too confident that we will,” Deanna King (10) said.

“It’s a little daunting not having a pool close by that we can use to practice. We all just want to dive into a pool, but COVID is making that very difficult,” Allie Schmidt (11) said.

After the Scott County YMCA pool closed, the swim team practiced at New Washington High School, which is about 20 miles from SHS, to prepare for the 2019-2020 season.

The team had a season of many personal records achieved and school records broken. The team had to ride a bus for at least 30 minutes each way to attend practices compared to the short bus ride to the Scott County YMCA pool.

“It was definitely different. The bus ride we enjoyed. We got to talk to everyone else,” Taylor Bottorff (12) said.

Since SHS does not have a pool lined up for its practices at the moment, the team has hit the weight room to condition for the season as they wait to find a place to practice.

During “dry land” practices, the swimmers work on their swim performance by improving their speed and doing exercises for their core.

“We are doing what we can right now. We are still putting our effort into it,” Bottorff said. “We’re hoping for the best.”