Hanover Swimming and Diving Teams Gain Momentum for State Championship
The Hanover Swimming and Diving team has finished their regular season with their last meet this Wednesday, at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center in White River Junction, Vermont. The team has had an impressive year, with a total number of 20 swimmers qualifying for the State Championship Meet, and another 4 coming to the meet as relay swimmers. This is the most Hanover has ever had to qualify for the meet, even more than last year, when they came in second for boys and third for girls. The championship meet will take place on the first Sunday of Winter Break and will be held at UNH. The meet, for the first time ever, will be swum with the preliminary heats in the morning, with the top six fastest swimmers from the preliminary heats advancing to the final heats in the afternoon.
Although having lost many great senior swimmers last year, the team still stands a chance of placing very highly this year, particularly with the addition of three divers, of which Hanover had none last year. This gives the team much needed points against rival teams with divers. There is a possibility of several team record being broken at his meet, which will not be the first time this happens this year. Several team records have been broken this season in events such as the 200 Freestyle, 200 IM, 100 Back, 100 Fly, and 500 Freestyle. The successful season the team is having can be attributed to hard work in the pool during practice, and an unusual training method.
During practice, the team trains not only with conventional swimming likeing doing sets of laps and races off of the starting blocks, but also with playing Water polo once a week. This is an intense team game of trying to throw the ball into the opposing team’s net, and can get very physical. This allows for an interesting cross-training, and based off the team’s performance, is a successful form of training. The Hanover Swimming and Diving team has had a very successful season again, and we will continue to follow their progress at the State Championship Meet.