On Wednesday, Jan. 14, LHS’s swim and diving team honored its seniors during its final regular-season home meet.
Both the girls and boys teams earned wins against Valley Forge, with the boys winning 139-36 and girls winning 120-48. Between both teams, a total of 16 seniors will be leaving after this season, greatly shrinking the size of the team.
“They’re leaving a really good group behind,” said the swim team’s head coach Patricia Portik.
The diving team is saying goodbye to seniors Livia Brahaj, Eva Brooks, Billy Cummings, J.P. McManamon, Luci Robbins, Riley Stallbaum and Delaney Starr.
The swimming team is saying goodbye to Cora Barcelona, Dominique Christian, Elle Heller, Nate Lardi, Grace Lowmiller, Alex Mossburg, Mia Resto, Evan Seiler and Alexis Ward.
“A lot of them have stepped into leadership roles. A lot of them have kind of changed their attitude about hard sets and doing the hard thing,” said Portik.
“A lot of them have become captains. But beyond that, a lot of the peer leadership that gets us through hard sets is important, because as a coach, we’re not physically in the water, so we rely heavily on them to kind of motivate those around them and see struggles,” she said.
Diving captain Billy Cummings has been on the team for four years and took on the role of captain in his senior year.
“I help the new people kind of learn how to dive and like give them advice,” said Cummings. “What I do is I mostly help set up and make sure everything runs smoothly for practice. I get out the mats to stretch on before practice, and I fill our tub with hot water so we can stay warm.”
Leadership is key to the success of any sports team. Swim team captain and four-year swimmer Elle Heller can attest to that.
“I just hope that they keep going strong without us. A lot of seniors are leaving, so it’s gonna be a smaller team without us, and I just hope they keep going strong, keep up the spirit, and work on getting other people to join the team as well,” said Heller in a message for the underclassmen.
With so many seniors leaving at the end of the season, the moment is bittersweet for the entire team.
“I’m sad about it, but the season has also been so long. It’s definitely gonna be sad leaving everyone behind, and I’ve been doing this since freshman year, so it’s gonna be sad, but I’m ready on a certain level,” Heller said.
Cummings said, “It’s a mix of I’m sad that it’s ending but I’m happy that it happened, that I joined when I did my freshman year, and I’m glad that I got to experience all four years on the diving team with the most amazing team.”
Senior night is also an emotional night for the coaches as they say goodbye to all their swimmers and divers, whether four-year veterans or first year rookies.
“Sometimes we don’t see the student body in the stands … so to have that moment where your parents, your guardians, and your families, and some of your friends are here, like that’s super important. I think it’s just kind of like a nice moment and something to look back on and just really appreciate … in this moment, it was kind of worth it, and they get to share it with others,” Portik said.
Portik and the rest of the swimming and diving coaches will continue to support their athletes through the remainder of the season and their high school careers. She also had one final message for her seniors.
“Always keep challenging yourself. Think about all the times you did the hard thing and all the times that you didn’t necessarily want to, and take those skills and use them in any sort of professional situations or later in life, because you only get better by doing the hard things and improve that here. That’s something that should translate throughout your life.”
