On Feb. 23 and 24, the Lovejoy swim and dive team competed at the state meet. The athletes competed against nearly five hundred other athletes and represented Lovejoy well.
“Our athletes at Lovejoy had a really good year this year,” coach Matthew Bolinger said. “The boys broke six team records at state, while the girls broke two team records.”
When the team left for the state meet, they made sure to make their trip memorable and to create bonds within the team.
“The best part of the state meet was the time I got to spend with the team,” junior Chris Wang said. “Travel meets are special because you have to live with your team for the weekend. Making these memories while competing at state was the best part for me.”
Both teams performed admirably, with the girls team placing twelfth and the boys team placing tenth. This reflects their hard work over this season, and shows a promising future for the team.
“The state meet was very lively and very loud,” junior Hunter Hedges said. “The atmosphere was very hyped up because everyone wanted to win swimming at state.”
Not only were improvements made as a whole team, but these athletes crushed the competition. Senior Grant Hu received his first gold medal swimming the 100 breaststroke with a time of 54.82, and broke the 5A state record.
“I’m sure there were some feelings of doubt that the 100 breaststroke,” Bolinger said. “His first event to get him to State in 2021, would be his first gold at State in 2024. Despite that, Grant exceeded his goals by not only grabbing the gold but also claiming that record.”
Lovejoy also made new school records during the boys 200 medley relay with a time of 1:35.64, where Austin Stone, Grant Hu, Hunter Hedges, and Chris Wang all competed.
“I participated in the 200 medley relay for fly and had a personal best time where we placed sixth in the state,” Hedges said. “I think that our 200 medley relay had the best performance, breaking our own record again throughout the year.”
On the girls side of the meet, Ava Easley and Maria Faoro were strong contenders in their respective sections of the meet. Easley placed second in the girls 200 backstroke with a time of 56.16, and Faoro placed second in the girls diving.
“Ava is another great example of goals coming to fruition,” Bolinger said. “She has been training non stop on her backstroke to be where she is now. Honestly with her placing second this year she has a fantastic shot at gold next year.”
Preparation is vital to a swimmers success, and the team improved steadily throughout the season.These improvements took a huge amount of work from the team, with hour and a half long practices in the mornings and two to three hour practices in the evenings.
“It was a super tight race the whole way and the top three were separated by tenths of a second,” Chris Wang said. “We were happy with the results of our hard work.”
Overall, the meet reflected the hard work they put in to prepare for the meet, and it showed the team achieving the goals that they set for the team as a whole and individually. With this pattern of improvement, the team can expect higher rates of success next season.
“I definitely preach about making goals, and making hard goals at that. We had some goals that we missed,” said coach Matthew Bolinger. “Despite that, we also had some big goals that did manifest at State.”
