Angie Harri, an MSMS senior, is the girls’ captain of the MSMS Swim team. She has been swimming for eight years now and has won a State Ring for placing first in the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay, breaking the state record.

“I started swimming because of my sister,” said Harri  “She’d come home after practice with her soaking hair in a rough bun, eager to down her dinner. I wanted to know what the world of swimming entailed, so I joined the Shockwave Aquatics Team in Starkville. I fell in love with swimming; it’s such a unique sport, but I have a love-hate relationship with it.  It’s hard having to swim year-round. The only breaks are holidays and weekends, but the sense of accomplishment after practice and the shared struggle with friends always kept me going. Eating whatever I wanted to, and still being in shape was an added bonus.”

“It was my sophomore year, and State Meet came upon us,” said Harri about winning her State Ring and breaking the state record. “My 200-Freestyle and 400-Freestyle Relays had a chance to get first in the state. My teammates and I were jittering with nerves, but our coach reminded us that the 5:30 a.m. practices before school prepared us for this. The 200-Free Relay was first. The race was so close we had to turn to the scoreboard to see who won. At first, we saw that we broke the state record, but there was a ‘2’ by our team name. The team that got first also broke the state record, getting first by 4-tenths of a second. Second place never felt so bad.”

She continued, “Before the 400 Free Relay, our coach scrambled around trying to figure out the best order for us to swim the relay. We decided to let our faster swimmer go first, and the intimidation showed on our opponents’ faces.  She got us a lead in front of everyone and I was up next. I remember the adrenaline rushing through my body, helping me get a personal best time in my 100 Freestyle, and helping our team stay in first.  The other two girls on the relay kept the lead and we ended up breaking the state record and getting first place.  We were ecstatic, living proof that hard work pays off.”

Coming to MSMS changed things for Harri. The extra course load and residential life greatly impacted her swimming career.

“Swim is one of the hardest sports out there,” said Harri. “That’s why when I came to MSMS my swim career went downhill.  To get better at swim I’d have to go to at least a two-hour practice every day of the week for the entire year, which was not possible at MSMS.  Homework and clubs were now higher on my list of priorities than swim was.”  

As a senior, Harri has come to the end of her long road of competitive swimming. She holds mixed feelings about moving on from her high school swim career. She has not decided whether she will pursue swimming in college.

Harri said, “Now, it’s my senior year, and my last year of being on a swim team. State Meet is the last meet I’m going to attend and I wish I could say it’s bittersweet, but the bitter outweighs the sweet tremendously. Swim has always been a big part of my life, it’s helped shape me into who I am today, and it’s not going to be easy letting it go.”