The MSMS swim team attended their North State Championship meet last week, competing with swimmers from all over the state. On Friday, Oct. 23, swimmers Andrew Yu, Michael Lu, Thomas Cooke, Matthew Dunn and Jessica Yan competed in the meet at the Tupelo Aquatic Center, marking the end of the season.

Since the team was competing in Class 1, a very large group of school teams, the swimmers were very nervous going into the meet; however, everyone had high hopes for continuing the team’s successful streak.

“Usually, I would feel confident going into meets since I’ve competed in so many by now,” said Yan. “But because it was my first time competing in Class 1, the pressure was high.”

Lu was mainly optimistic about continued growth and reflection rather than worried about placements or rankings.

“Going into the meet, I was optimistic,” said Lu. “Not toward winning medals or beating others, but for finding personal improvement in my events” 

Yan competed in the 200 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke, with final times of 2:08:51 and 1:24:56. Lu swam the boys 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke with the final times of 25:35 and 1:12:90. Cooke, Dunn, Lu and Yu all competed in the 200 yard medley relay with a final time of 2:06:80. Yu swam the 50 free with a time of 24.76 and the 100 backstroke with a final time of 1:02:74. Lastly, Cooke, along with the 200 medley, swam the 100 yard free with a final time of 59:74.

This year, MSMS’s team had a medalist—Yan in the 100 breaststroke. The last time the team stood on the podium for an event was in 2018. This year, however, there was no podium to stand on due to safety measures for the ongoing pandemic. Instead, medalists stood on the diving blocks to receive their medals.

“I thought this was very meaningful,” said Yan. “Mostly because that was where we, as swimmers, started our journey towards reaching the top.”

After the meet, most of the swimmers were confident in their performances and happy about their improvements.

“The meet lasted longer than I thought it would, and I was pretty tired by the end,” said Yu. “I improved in each of my events, so I was quite satisfied with my performance.”

Some of the swimmers showed much gratitude that they were even able to have a good season during the pandemic. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was able to be optimistic and motivated throughout the unusual season.

“After the meet, I felt relieved,” said Yan. “Although I’m sad that the season has ended already, I’m grateful that I was able to still compete even during these current times.”

The swimmers were ultimately very happy with how the team performed on Friday, along with the season itself. Throughout the season swimmers showed a continual streak of success and self-improvement. The team plans to grow to create a larger community with a stronger foundation for the future.

“Because of our successful season, I know that we will come back stronger next season, and hopefully, we can come back to practice as a team,” said Yan. “This season has surely been hectic through the pandemic, but I enjoyed the chaos that ensued, as that only drove us to further and closer together as a team.”