Girls swim wins Counties, AGAIN

Julianna Mullen, Staff Reporter
February 14, 2023

After a long night last Wednesday at Magnolia High, the FHS Women’s Swim team brought home a big 1st place overall win for the second time in a row! Huge congratulations to the whole team, but how exactly did this win come about? 

Nobody was 100% sure they were going to win, even coming down to the last event, the 400-yd freestyle relay. The team felt good and fast, had high hopes, and knew they were capable, but it wasn’t a guarantee. For this reason, “counties was a really satisfying win,” says Junior Maddie Smith.  

Swim it ‘til you win it! Pictured above are the FHS Swim Girls posing by the podium after winning counties for the second year in a row, hence all the peace signs. Photo Courtesy of Addy Rebasti.

Despite being such a young team, the swimmers found lots of success this season! With a lot of new swimmers, the abilities of the team all around were incredible. The collective team score of 322 points shows everyone had a unique role that contributed to their success. 

Everyone on the team understood that every point was vital, and every individual’s effort counted! Lucy Plaisted explains, “We all knew the meet would be a close one, everyone had been keeping track of the points all meet so by the last relay, the pressure was on.” 

With this winning mentality, the team was able to encourage and motivate each other to be better, faster, and stronger. Freshman Madi Hoyer says, “Our team pushes [each other] to swim harder than ever before.” When we “get up on the block and feel nervous and then the starter goes off and you dive in, the only thing I can hear is them cheering [us] on,” she continues. 

The Fallston Girls had twelve top four wins and split up into 3 relays and 9 individual events!  

(From left top to right bottom) Lily Allman, Abby Schneider, Lucy Plaisted, and Kate Taylor after earning the last points that secured the overall win for Fallston! Photo Courtesy of Addy Rebasti.

200-Yard Medley Relay – Kate Taylor, Backstroke; Abby Schneider, Breaststroke; Lily Allman, Butterfly; and Lucy Plaisted, Freestyle. The girls swan an impressive time of 2:00.38 which earned them 3rd place. 

200-Yard Freestyle Relay – Madi Hoyer, Maddie Smith, Sadie Grier, and Lilli Pasquinelli. Together they finished 4th with a time of 1:56.73. 

400-Yard Freestyle Relay – Kate Taylor, Lily Allman, Abby Schneider, and Lucy Plaisted. This was the final event of the night and really tied the knot on their win as they swam an incredible 3:58.41, which resulted in 1st place. 

200-Yard Freestyle – Lucy Plaisted placed 1st with a time of 2:10.32 and Lily Allman placed 3rd with a time of 2:15.38. 

200-Yard Individual Medley (Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle) – Abby Schneider swam a 2:18.63 earning 1st place and Madi Hoyer swam a 2:32.77 earning 4th place. 

100-Yard Butterfly – Madi Hoyer swam a 1:11.62 finishing in 4th.  

100-Yard Freestyle – Lucy Plaisted swam a 59.81 placing 4th.  

500-Yard Freestyle – Kate Taylor earned 1st place with an amazing 5:48.21. 

100-Yard Backstroke – Kate Taylor ended in 2nd place with a time of 1:07.03. 

100-Yard Breaststroke – Abby Schneider earned 1st with a stunning 1:11.23.