The 2012-2013 regular swimming season has come to a close, and with it all the fun and inspirational memories that from the last several months. This team has been one of the youngest teams, with mostly freshmen and sophomores. However, the experienced upperclassmen and team captains have helped the team tremendously, along with the new head and assistant coaches.

LSE hosted the Heartland Athletic Conference (HAC) on Friday, Feb 9. Sophomores Tyler Hattan and Adam Keester and seniors Ryan Shoemaker and Elliot Appleget placed eleventh overall in the 200 Medley Relay with the time of 1:43.18.

“We have had many successes as far as achieving individual best times on a very consistent basis. Five out of our six relays are qualified for State. Most of all, the meets are a fun, team atmosphere and we have a blast cheering each other on,” said head coach Ivy Johnson.

Freshman Cody McNeese has seen improvement in the team since the beginning of the year. “I think there have been big improvements since the beginning,” he said. The team has been a lot different this year because it is very young with only seven upperclassmen on the team. “The team is young, but it’s good in a way because we can see where it’s going in the next few years,” he added.

Freshman Marissa Wekesser knows that the hard work of the team this season is finally paying off. “It was a bumpy ride at first when we lost our head coach,” she said. “The teams bonded really well this season despite everything; we’ve all done some really hard work,” she added.

The team competed in the State Meet at the Bob Devaney Sports Center from February 21-23. Freshman Alexa Goldenstein, sophomore Ellie Walstad, and seniors Patty Morrow and Meredith Wekesser won the girl’s 200-yard freestyle relay with the time 1:38.12 on Saturday, Feb 23.