The Stanwood Spartan girl's swim team can be defined as excellent. They have created a family and culture, they have the perseverance and determination to make it far, and they are passionate about what they do.
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Photo by Evan Caldwell
Overcoming Challenges
From the outside, it looks like the Stanwood girl’s swim team is super successful. They are undefeated this year for the first time in Stanwood swim history. One thing people don’t look at is how much success they have, not just statistically. The Stanwood girl’s swim team is constantly making goals everyday and they are reaching them, they are pushing themselves and their teammates to be better, making more goals to work towards. Senior Sarah Zastoupil explains that, “over the summer, [she] had a goal of reaching a time of 500 and leading lane six during the high school season”. She put in the work all summer and achieved that goal. When asking coach Rita Peterson about challenges, she reveals that “the main challenges high school athletes have to face is balancing school, family, and sometimes work”. Balance is a challenge for anyone, and that is one thing the Stanwood girl’s swim team is amazing at overcoming. Senior Faith Dilworth adds that one thing athletes have to face is “time management, as well as mental stress”. She understands the challenges and she, as well as the rest of the team, has overcome time management and handles stress very well.
Memories
The Stanwood girl’s swim team has made some amazing memories over their excellent season. Freshman Anna Paul’s favorite memory is their “team sleepover”. It made them grow closer and it was a really fun night. Faith Dilworth’s favorite memory was their “high stakes meet against Glacier Peak”. Coach Peterson agrees with that as that is also her favorite memory. She said that something special about this was, finding out that they had “beat Glacier Peak, who had won 40 meets in a row, and knowing that [they] had broken that winning streak”. That memory had proven to themselves that they were capable of more than they thought. They realized how good they really were and how far they could really make it. Two years ago they lost to Glacier Peak by 120 points and this year they beat them 88-82. The depth of their team has helped them so much and it is exciting for the Stanwood community to see a growing program.
Family and Culture
The Stanwood girl’s swim team has built an absolutely amazing program. After watching just 10 minutes of a practice or meet, you can see the culture they have created. After talking with their team they also feel the strong culture of their team. In almost every question asked, culture and chemistry is brought up. Senior Faith Dilworth says, “we all support each other really well” and “we have a really good community and the coaches always help you reach your goals”. Senior Sarah Zastoupil says, “my teammates are the ones helping me beat my goals”, adding on that “one time they even helped me swim two more laps after I thought I couldn’t keep going”. Freshman Anna Paul says that her favorite part of practice is just being in a lane with such amazing girls. She says that, “they are a good group of people and they help you to keep going”. Coach Peterson says, “they have many diverse personalities”. They have 40 girls on the team and she says “they work together and support each other”. She comments on how their team is successful because of “how hard they train together” and she sees “swimmers push themselves past where they thought they could go during tough sets”.