It was a year of ups and downs for the women’s swim team. After being informed that their program was being eliminated, it was reinstated midway through the year and the women got to compete and enjoy their sport once more.

“To get my team reinstated despite it being cut means so much to me. I’m so grateful to have an opportunity to compete again,” said senior Aliyah Treadwell.

The ladies pursued legal avenues to fight for their program and ended up receiving a judgement that allowed them to continue for at least one more season. “My favorite memory of this year was attending our first swim meet back after being reinstated and having so many people come up to us and congratulating us on fighting for our program, expressing how proud they were!” said Treadwell.

Due to the late reinstatement of the program, it meant that the team needed to compete with a much smaller roster than usual. This led to the team being able to collect less points than they normally would’ve been able to, but that did not deter the women from having a great season.

“The season this year with a smaller roster was amazing,” said Treadwell. “Us girls were able to bond and get to know each other on a whole different level due to only having 12 girls. It was a very unique and fun experience.”

The ladies were able to grow very close with each other on a personal level and improve greatly in their abilities as a team. The team performed much better than the scoreboard would suggest and likely would’ve come away with many wins had they had their typical sized roster.

“Overall as a team I thought we did great, due to the circumstances of the late reinstatement and having our season cut in half. We all gave our best efforts and were able to swim season best times and personal best times,” said Treadwell.

The roster had seven seniors this year who all got to celebrate their senior night as they finished their sport at the collegiate level.

“As a senior, swimming has shaped the person I am today and has taught me so many values of life. I’m definitely sad that I’m done swimming competitively but I’m ready to start a new chapter of my life and pursue my career goals,” Treadwell added.

For the women’s swim and dive team, it was a season shaped by the events surrounding it and the values that came from it. It was definitely a season that each of these ladies will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Tags: Swim and Dive

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