by Elise Keyes

This past week, Memorial’s Homecoming game and dance brought our first month of school to an end. However, other sports also competed across town; Memorial’s Girls Swim & Dive had their annual meet against North last week as well.

Memorial’s Girls Swim and Dive Team are staying strong through the middle of their season, beating North at their crosstown Dual this last Tuesday. The meet ended with a final score of 119 points for Memorial and 64 for North.

The middle stretch of a season can be a hard time for many sports, and swim and dive are no exception. When asked about how the team is handling it, team Captain Emma Merkatoris responded, “I think the team has done a really great job at having good camaraderie and being really connected inside and outside the pool. I feel like we’re a lot better friends this year than we have been in the past, and I feel like that really carries into our swims, and it’s just making everyone a lot more positive and swim a lot faster.” 

The dive meet started off the competition, with Memorial’s Bri Goetti taking first place and Lydia Song in third. In the first half of the swim meet, Memorial took first place in all events. In the 50 Yard Freestyle, Annie Carlson and Ally Dallman tied for first with times of exactly 28.07 seconds, a rare occurrence.

In the second half, Memorial took first, second, and third place in the 500 Freestyle, and many personal records (or PRs) were set by swimmers. “I think everyone swam really great times, especially for it being the middle of the season,” said Merkatoris. “Usually, you don’t see a lot of time improvements just because of our hard schedule and how sore our bodies are, but I was seeing a lot of PRs and a lot of times that really compared to tapered times at the end of season.”

Memorial finished out the meet with a win in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, with the A-Team of Ally Dallman, Veda Dix, Emma Merkatoris, and Anna Skutley coming in first. Kara Crotteau, one of Memorial’s other team captains, comments on how far the team has come and the speed they have been showing this season. “I think the team has gotten a lot better effort-wise, because this year I’ve seen a lot more time improvements from the years prior. For new swimmers, I feel like their times are so much better than I’ve seen in the past, and overall the team is closer and wants the best for everyone.”

This crosstown meet was a great way to start off Homecoming week, and a good chance to build camaraderie not only within teams, but between them. Memorial’s Swim and Dive Team shows no signs of slowing down, with a positive outlook on the next half of their season. The Talon wishes North’s and Memorial’s teams luck in upcoming meets and at Conference and Sectionals.