Water splashes as pointed toes and kicking feet slice through the water, the storm takes the trophy in both swim and dive giving them a fiery boost before state.
Senior Caption Catherine Knopke has dove all four years of her high school career, she placed third in her category.
“We did amazing at dive and got 1 through 4 with all four divers,” Knopke said. “It’s always so much fun to win and know that your individual points help the team as a whole.”
Besides the dive team’s strong performance swim pulled their weight as well, placing first overall.
“ILC’S is where prelims and finals meet, this means the top 16 swimmers move on to finals and score from there,” Sophomore Mary Schumm said. “For much of the team, it is the last meet of the season and so it’s important to give it all they’ve got.”
ILC’s are an important stepping stone for the state as many swimmers are working on improving their times and getting state cuts before the championships.
“For many others, they are just continuing to improve their times or get a state cut because this is their last chance to do so before state,” Schumm said. “It is all very fun though and everyone supports each other. We also always shoot for first place and it’s even better when we beat St Teresas which we’ve done two years in a row now
Although it’s a competitive meet, some swimmers swim to enjoy the atmosphere and support their teammates.
“Even though I went into the meet not even wanting to get a state cut time it’s honestly such a fun meet atmosphere,” Senior Sarah Lillis said. “Everyone is screaming at the top of their lungs cheering each other on.”
With efforts from both swim and dive, both teams combined points to pull out the win.
“Its nice to see when both team’s points contribute to winning overall,” Knopke said. “It makes us feel like one whole team as we prepare for state.”
With state coming up in a couple weeks, ILC’s gave the storm the confidence they need to keep the momentum during the championships.
“State is obviously the peak of our season,” Schumm said. “Winning ILC’s gave kind of gave us a good boost to have that same fire on February 14th.”
