Swim Ends with a Splash

By Meagan Broussard

The Capital High School Swim Team participated in the 2019 State Swim meet held in Bozeman, at the Bozeman Swim Center on February 8th and 9th. Capital placed 5th overall with 90 points total, only one point below Whitefish High School.

Multiple students from Capital High set records this February, including “Our Capital High girls (Maija Geier, Kate Sheafor, Leah Baranek, and myself) broke the school records for both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay,” says Cassie Williams, a captain of the team. Maija Geier broke an additional school record in the 100 yard backstroke.

When asked about challenges the team faced both throughout the season and at state, Williams writes, “The Capital girls faced a huge amount of competition from the Missoula teams and girls such as Caroline Dye or Catherine Berkoff, some of the best swimmers in the state.”

Williams explains that “Most practice for about two hours in the afternoon, one hour in the pool and one hour doing dry land, which focuses mainly on strengthening muscles outside of the water.” However, Williams explains that for swimmers with the Helena Lions Swim Team, extra time was spent practicing. They “...swam twice a day at some points, at 5:45 in the morning and then again in the afternoons”.

All that practice and competition is worth it though; Williams says that the highlight of the season for her was “...being able to stand with my relay team on the third and fourth winners block at state.”

When asked how she got into swimming, Williams says, “I was bad at literally everything I tried (soccer, dance, cheerleading, etc.), so I decided to try swimming and hated it at first, but it stuck.”

Now, though, Cassie explains what she loves about her sport, writing “I love how individualized it is, but also how much of a team aspect it has. There’s a lot of inspiring and amazing swimmers that I have the privilege to swim with, so it’s a very encouraging environment.”

Through it all, the team captain explained how rewarding season was for her: “I think that the season was really fun, especially for me because it’s my senior year and I’m a captain, so I have been able to watch everyone progress and get so much better over the years. It’s very inspiring.”

Congratulations ladies!