Swim meet celebrates senior girls’ performance

Bre Scott, Staff Writer

As the girls’ swim season comes to an end, seniors have been making the best out of their last season as a Jacksonville High School swimmer. This was seen at JHS’s Senior Girls’ swim meet on October 17 against rival school PORTA. The meet started at 6:30 p.m with senior celebrations 10 minutes prior. Mr. VanAken handed each senior a rose as she walked with her parents and peers whilst being recognized.

Sam Black, coach of both the JHS girls’ and boys’ swim team, proudly announced each girl’s role and accomplishments on the team as the rest of the team tearfully cheered on the seniors. These seniors (Chrissi Batti, Vianey Bustos, Georgia Calvia, Kelly Lu, Mya Peoples, Bre Scott, Tya Woods, and Alexa Wyatt) made up almost half of the entire 2019 swim team. Of these seniors, three girls participated in the JHS swim team for all four years: Chrissi Batty, Vianey Bustos, and Bre Scott. To further honor the seniors on the team, underclassmen surprised all the seniors with handmade posters and framed photographs.

Overall, the meet itself was very competitive, and Coach Black urged each and every girl, especially the seniors, to give their all at each race. This caused personal records (PRs) across the boards for JHS swimmers in every grade–a huge deal for the girls personally. Georgia Calvia lost 10 seconds on her breaststroke time; Vianey Bustos received an individual medley (IM) time of 3:29:51 minutes. Chrissi Batty swam one of her first relays after a busy schedule the entire season; Ty Woods got a PR of 54:58 seconds during her 50 freestyle race. JHS even won with 115 points compared to PORTA’s 77 points: an accomplishment the entire team earned together.

After the meet, the seniors celebrated and chatted together, knowing that there will only be a few more meets. Some seniors had messages for newcomers next season such as “Don’t give up in the middle of the season guys; it’s worth it in the end,” (Vianey Bustos), while others were simple in saying, “I had a pretty great time,” (Chrissi Batty), and “I learned a lot of things, like how to not die in the water,” (Tya Woods). On an ending note though, Italian exchange student and senior Georgia Calvia wanted to reach out and thank Coach Sam and the entire swim team for giving her an amazing season and teaching her how close a team can get.