Under the guidance of swim coach Brett Ruoff, on Thursday, Dec. 5, the Lincoln Southeast varsity swim team had their first meet; a non-conference meet against Papillion-La Vista High School. Last year against Papillion-La Vista, the girls varsity swim team lost by 46 points, with a score of 70, compared to Papillion’s 116. The boys also suffered the same fate, losing 70 to 114. This year, the girls team fell short again, 57 to 129. The boys fared slightly better with a score of 66 to Papillon’s 113. 

Senior swimmer Lane Howell approached this meet as “a chance to figure out where we are as a team.”

“I feel like we’ll find out if we’re ready [for the season after this meet],” Howell said.

The swim team has been practicing six days a week in preparation for this meet, and will continue to do so in order to be at their best. There are morning practices that some attend for various reasons, such as if they cannot attend the ones after school or if they wish to have extra practice time. They will swim anywhere from 4,000 to 7,000 yards during practice, or even more.

On top of that, the team participates in dryland practices outside of the pool to strengthen and stretch their muscles. Depending on which group they are in, Black or Gold, they will either have three dryland practices, or one. According to Howell, the coaches have a new focus this year on reaction time for dryland practices. They want to have better pushes off the wall and the blocks, which will in turn help the team’s times. Common workouts the team does for this include squats, lunges, medicine ball work and occasionally, running.

For this meet, Howell was prepared to swim all of the freestyle races, except for the 500 Freestyle. 

“I’m excited to see where I’m at because honestly, I don’t know,” Howell said. “I don’t know what kind of times I’m going to have or what it’s going to feel like.”

A new year means another (or a last) chance for improvement with times, and possibly an attendance at state.

The next varsity swim meet will be back at LSE on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 5:30 p.m. It is the Varsity Triangular conference meet against the Grand Island Islanders and the Lincoln North Star Gators.