Last weekend the Viper swim team sent Chris Fynn, Sammi Bassman, Isabella Voelkl, Hayley Driskill and Kayla Osborn to compete at the UT Natatorium for the state swim meet, in hopes of bringing home the blue ribbon. Sammi Bassman achieved second place in the 100 meter breaststroke race and Chris Flynn placed 10th in the 200 meter freestyle as well as 8th place in the 100 meter backstroke race.
“I was pretty hopeful going into the season,” Chris Flynn, sophomore said. “After I saw my times, I had no doubt I would be close.”
Coach Raffaeli and Coach Cunningham had high hopes that their swimmers would be able to qualify for such a prestigious event. Despite the exhausting six moth season, cold early mornings and various injuries, the team was able to reach their goal.
“It is all about the team. The team needs to support one another in their goals,” Coach Raffaeli said. “We do this by keeping each other motivated and dedicated.
Clearly the motivation kept strong throughout the season, the team qualified for state by placing in the top 6 at the district swim meet, although they placed fourth at the following regional swim meet, their times still qualified them for the next competition.
“Once we placed fourth in our region I lost a lot of hope, our region was just super fast, so when I heard the news we made it to state I was ecstatic!” Hayley Driskill, sophomore, said.
The two day event went by quick for the state qualifiers. On Friday the relay team as well as the other swimmers participated in the preliminary events, and moved onto finals the next morning.
“Our relay was the first event, Chris swam in the second event, and then we had a long break until Chris and Sammi swam again at the end.” Isabella Voelkl, sophomore said.
Of course they were nervous, but the student swimmers had the practice and experience to come out on top.
“We’ve worked very hard this season, starting from the beginning, and it showed at state,” Sammi Bassman said.
Coach Cunningham and Raffaeli are very proud of their team, and are eager for what is it come.
“We have to keep working hard, and stay focused on our goals for next year which are to qualify even more swimmers for state in more events an celebrate our successes!” Coach Raffaeli said.
