The Varsity Girls’ Swim Team took second overall at the Spirit Sprints at Oshkosh West and beat Oshkosh North 113 to 70. The Junior Varsity team also beat Oshkosh North 95-64.

The Varsity girls have been working hard all season by waking up at 5 a.m. some days to come to school to practice. They also come to afternoon practice 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. every night. Varsity head coach Jamie Schnurer discussed their practice regimen: “For conference, the girls are going to be practicing their events for sectionals,” Schnurer said. “For sectionals, some of the girls are going to taper while the other ones are simply going to slow down some of their sets.” Now what is taper? “Taper is taking your workload and decreasing it so your muscles can start to recover and swim meets go better for the swimmers,” Schnurer said.

The Junior Varsity team has also been practicing hard in preparation for sectionals. Jonathon Karrels is the Junior Varsity coach and occasionally coaches the Varsity girls as well. “Last week the girls were practicing diving off the blocks so they don’t leave as early off the block during relays,” Karrels said. “The sets also had fast yardage with little breaks. This week the girls are starting their tapering with fast yardage but a lot more rest.”

Sophomore Sami Grathen agreed. “The tapered practices have been relaxing my muscles and helping me feel good before conference,” Grathen said.

“All of the girls have been showing much improvement since the beginning of the season. Some barely knew how to swim when they started in August,” Karralls said. 

The Junior Varsity conference is on Monday, Oct. 26 at home and  the Varsity conference is on Saturday, Oct. 31.