It’s been a while since I’ve written and goodness, lots of swim times have dropped! High school season has brought me back as a butterfly specialist, as we have a teammate of mine who can swim my favorite event, backstroke, very well. The Spring River Penguin TEAM was a little suppressed in enthusiasm and talent before our freshman class splashed into high school competition. Within a month rivalries have developed between Eau Claire Memorial and our team. Thus the entire program and TEAM has really blossomed with a group of frosh girls that can swim fast with extensive meet experience. Unbelievably as a freshman, I’ve broken 9 meet/ pool records. It’s really nice to be recognized as a swimmer—well on deck, not at school … yet. I’ve been fortunate this season as I’ve dropped 4 seconds in my hundred butterfly and 5 seconds in my 200 IM–my two main events. I now have a 1:00.63 in the fly, and a 2:12.55 in the IM.

It is perfect timing for my swim diary entry because last nightwas Conference. Shucks, I was undefeated until yesterday. Conferences went extremely well: I earned a first place in the 100 fly and a 2nd in the 200 IM (my first second place this season). My relay team was amazing! We placed first in the 400 free and beat the top team in our Conference, the team that we credit our only loss column mark against: Eau Claire Memorial. Undeniably Eau Claire Memorial, the Old Abes, is our biggest rival in almost every sport. In girl’s high school swimming they have not lost a meet since 2007, and have placed well in the WIAA tournament each year. Eau Claire is well coached with great talent. It seems as if this TEAM isn’t human. However, the Penguins did manage to defeat the seemingly invincible Old Abe TEAM. With three freshmen and a senior, we pulled off a wild 400 free relay win. It’s pretty tough throwing that undefeated title away, but upcoming is Sectionals … and it’s HUGE in the swimming world! My season long win streak for the Spring River Penguins has kept me focused. But NO swimmer wins all the time–not even Michael Phelps. The Penguins now advance as a TEAM to Wisconsin Sectionals. And this is where it’s all decided whether you go to the state finals or not. I’d say swimming within Wisconsin has much less competition compared to St. Paul/Minneapolis clubs across the St. Croix River. But it’s almost an honor to go to Wisconsin state championships because only the top two swimmers at each Sections’ swim meet are eligible to go to the state meet in Madison.

Spring River high school swimming is not only 15-1 in their meets this season, but has an excellent team upcoming for Club season. We’ve had multiple articles written about our success, excitement and school/community spirit this year. Our coach and our swimmers believe it’s the best year for Spring River girls’ swimmers on record. The freshman class is taking a whole new turn on our former so-so girl’s high school swim team. And this year as we push towards state, anything but winning won’t be acceptable. Our coach has goals for us, as we do for ourselves. It’s time to take all this adrenaline and leave it in the water. I just feel one of our biggest goals is to be above football in the newspaper. These guys lose and they get the front cover.

Our sports coverage is still less than football and we recently won 3 consecutive invites in a ROW! It’s amazing how hard of a sport we’re competing within, yet we barely get noticed for an small town high school team with amazing accomplishments.I think that’ll give us considerable drive to work hard with dry land workouts and swim even more competitively.

It’s easy to keep our Spring River Penguin pride when we’ve had success. And I cannot wait until this TEAM matures as we advance through high school. The most difficult thing for me is trying to keep Mom and Dad from over reacting at meets. It’s nice that they know my races–but every single race and event?

Please! Everyone says competitive swimming is the best sport experience. I’m living proof of what fun and a great experience high school swimming in the Northlands actually is. It isn’t all ice up here!

Jenn Smithson-Frosh

Spring River Penguin Girls Swim Team