Selma High’s Lady Bears have started their swim season with ease. Their first invitational was on Saturday, February 22nd at Clovis North, and their first meet was on Tuesday, February 25th at Madera. 

Since the season has barely started, the team is trying to work towards going back into the rhythm of things to get better as the season goes on. 

Being only two meets in, the girls are mainly focusing on creating better mindsets for better outcomes, rather than focusing on their defeats from last year. 

“To improve from last year, I think we’re just getting a better mindset and pushing ourselves harder physically and mentally,” stated Abigail Baker, a varsity sophomore. 

She broke down the importance of having a good mentality in swim. Baker explained how being focused on their goals and pushing themselves to achieve their swim times help them actually meet those goals. 

As they want to win league for D1 this year, they also focus on being better prepared. At practice, they have swim days mixed with land days. On swim days, they go through with laps and work on technique for their specific section, like freestyle or breaststroke. These days are targeted towards doing better at tournaments and getting better times for their laps. 

However, they also have “land” days. On these days, the girls do workouts, run, and lift outside of the pool. These days are targeted towards building endurance and stamina. They work hard at practice, so they can show off their progress at meets. 

“This year we are pushing harder at practices to meet faster times,” explained Julianna Colado, a varsity junior. “We’re also doing new exercises during dryland to build more muscle. Our sets are also faster and longer to make us even better.Coach Wood also pushes to improve the girls’ outcomes. 

“We should still be in the running for a D2 title again, after being runner-up last year,” explained Wood. “We have some FAST girls, just not as many of them…” 

The team would agree.

“We dedicate a lot of our time, as well as [Coach Wood] does too,” said Mya Lopez, a varsity senior. 

“He puts in a lot of his own time and effort, into pushing us to get to where we need to be in the practices and workouts.”

To the girls, the swim team is a family, and that’s part of why they push to succeed so much. 

“I’m close to my teammates. They’re like my sisters,” commented Lopez.

A lot of them have been swimming for so long that the bond has just established itself. Baker has been swimming for 12 years, while Lopez has been swimming for 15. So with time, they’ve grown together as a team. 

Swimming is beyond important to a lot of the girls. 

“Swim has always been my favorite sport growing up and has pretty much been my entire childhood,” expresses Colado. “I’ve met my closest friends through swim and we have all grown together as a family.” To her, swim means way more than just swim. It means family. 

Altogether, the Selma High girls swim team is working hard to get the league title this season.