Clarke Central High School swimmer Grace Mauldin competes in the Clarke-Oconee Invitational on Jan. 17, 2015. The 2015-16 swim season officially begun on Oct. 19. “We’ve definitely maintained our numbers and we have maintained our place in the county as the number one swim team in Clarke County,” head swimming coach Emily Dowd said. Photo courtesy of the Clarke Central Swimming and Diving Facebook page.
By ZOE PETERSON – Digital Sports Editor
Head swimming and diving coach Emily Dowd discusses her thoughts on the upcoming 2015-16 Clarke Central High School swimming season.
Zoe Peterson: How did your season go last year?
Emily Dowd: It went well. All three of the boys relays made it to the state meet and so that was pretty exciting. We had a few individual swimmers make it to the state too and at our area meet, we beat out the Clarke County teams and we got third overall. To me, that was a good season.
ZP: Do you hope to improve this year?
ED: Yeah. What ends up happening, and what’s exciting to see happening, is the individual swimmers improving their swimming times and their strokes and really gaining a sense of confidence. To me, that’s what makes it a successful season. If we can get more swimmers to state, then that’ll be even better because that’s the culminating meet where every event has a certain time you need to make in order to qualify for state. So if we can get even more then that would be really exciting. I think some of the swimmers who made it to State last year who will probably make it again this year might place even higher.
ZP: What would you say is you biggest goal for the team this season?
ED: Getting more swimmers to State is a good goal, but also just to improve and to bond as a team and to see some success within each swimmer’s individual times, and also grow as a team. So, improving individually but really still understanding that it is a team sport and everybody needs to work together to make it a good season.
ZP: Would you say the swimmers are motivated to do well?
ED: Yeah, you kind of have to be. Swimming is hard and I’m always impressed with how dedicated the swimmers are and how well they do in practice and really go for it. There’s not a whole lot of goofing off, and to me, that means that they know what their goal is and they get in the water every day to do a workout and to try to become better. That’s generally how the swimmers are. They have that good attitude and good work ethic.
ZP: Why would you encourage students to join the swim team?
ED: You can really see yourself grow and it’s something that you may not have thought that you would do. I don’t like people to only think of swimming as an off-season sport, although that is a good use for it. It’s a full-body workout with low stress, low impact and it’s a good way to maintain your cardiovascular shape. That’s a good reason to do it, but it’s more than that. I think the swimmers have a lot of fun, they get together at meets and they encourage one another.
