With about two weeks left of the winter sports season, the Dana Hall Varsity Swim Team is hoping to win the Eastern Independent League Championships (EILS) for the eighth consecutive year and the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Championships (NEPSACs) for the third year in a row. So far the Dana Hall Varsity Swim Team has won seven of nine meets, winning all meets against schools in their district.
This season, members of the Varsity team broke the pool record for the 400-yard freestyle relay against Winsor on December 16, 2015. Also, on January 13, Lucy Haaman ’18; Millie Benkert ’19; and Maddie Wallis ’17 and Emma Benkert ’17 broke St. George’s pool record in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
While the Junior Varsity team has only won one out of their 6 meets of the season, Co-captain Allie Novakoff ’17 stated that “the JV team has been able to improve tremendously over the season, while growing closer and having fun.” Ms. Alden Sorenson, head coach of the JV team and assistant coach of the Varsity team, thinks that while “the JV team has had some tough competition this year, swimming against schools that have a single combined team of JV and Varsity, the majority of our swimmers on Dana’s JV team are in Middle School or 9th and 10th grade, and they held their own against teams with much older swimmers.”
The Dana Hall swim teams are unique to the school because they allow eligible Middle Schoolers to try out and swim for either the Varsity or JV teams. Co-captain Elizabeth Spyrou ’16 is confident in the teams and is “looking forward to watching [my] teammates perform at the last couple of meets.” The Dana Hall Varsity swim team is also unique in the sense that it can swim against both public and private schools that are out of its league and division during their season.
The final meet is this Wednesday, February 24, against Milton Academy, with EIL Championships following on Saturday, February 27; the Varsity team will swim against schools in their league. Co-captain Abby Durfee ’17 knows that “the team is very motivated and spirited. [They] are all working hard towards the EIL championship coming up, and I believe that both the swimmers and the divers are going to have some great successes.”
Ms. Sorenson says that “the varsity team has [accumulated] a lot of depth this year. [The team] has some top swimmers who consistently win events. We also have many swimmers who are able to finish 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.” These positions will ultimately help the team at the final meets of the season. The Varsity team is looking forward to NEPSACs on March 5th at Roger Williams University, where they will swim against teams out of their league, but they also have the chance of winning NEPSACs for the third year in a row, matching the record that the Fencing Team achieved this year.
