Northside’s women’s swimming and diving team has a bond like no other. They prove they are a tight-knit team through their fun pizza parties, team dress-up days, intense workouts, and practices both inside and outside the pool.

Swimming practices every day of the week from 3:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m alongside morning practices every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6 a.m to 7:30 a.m. The divers meet from 5:30 a.m to 7:30 a.m.

The captains of the swim team are Evy Schober (Adv. 000), Kimberly Acosta (Adv. 007), and Ilani Morales (Adv. 004). All three of them have been on the swim team since freshman year.

Schober states that she likes swimming because “it gives me the opportunity to work hard and achieve my goals in a fun and friendly environment. It’s also a good workout.” According to Morales, “Swimming and Diving is a commitment and people should be prepared to be physically and emotionally drained but the team members make it worth it.” Acosta says that “Swimming is great because you just don’t focus on one part of your body, you need to use your whole body to move through the water. It takes off stress while also keeping you in great shape.”

It is clear that swim team practices are not for the light-hearted. People must be committed to sacrificing some personal time in order to be able to see results in their season.

Even though the swim and dive practices are intense, the team is extremely close. They have some fun traditions and spirit days that always make the Northside student body smile. Some of Acosta’s favorite spirit days are “tacky tourist day and super-swimmer/diver day.”

The swim and dive team has some great team bonding activities that they do throughout the year. The team has pizza parties at a teammate’s house and before the school year starts, the swim team goes down to Michigan to relax at one of their teammate’s lakehouse. Acosta says that the team “gets to laugh together and spend time with one another a lot through practices, but during a bad day when everyone or even just one of us is frustrated, we can all be there for each other for support.”

Morales says that “the team is truly like my family and I always make so many happy memories when I’m with them. Out of any sports team I’ve ever been on I can say that the swimming and diving team is by far the best. I am so proud of all these girls, they always put forth so much effort and it doesn’t go unnoticed. I’m definitely going to miss them all.” Margaret Keilman (Adv. 005), a senior on the team, says “the team provides an extremely supportive and caring environment that works to lift everyone up and focuses on holistic improvement rather than just dropping time.”

The swim season is off to a strong start with victories at both of their meets. They only have three more home meets left in this year’s season, so the Northside student body should go out and support our women’s swimming and diving team, especially considering that one of these meets is the senior day meet on October 10th from 5-7 p.m.

Anyone who is considering joining the swimming and diving team should speak to someone already on the team to get more details, or they can email the captains with any questions at [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].