Senior swimmers complete undefeated career dual record

By: Jason Rathjen

As the final event came to an end at the dual meet against Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Tuesday, Oct. 6, the seniors of the women’s swimming and diving team started to erupt in an explosion of excitement. After all the scores were tallied up, Cedar Falls had won the meet and the seniors had accomplished something that they could only imagine. They had just completed their goal of going undefeated in dual meets for their high school swimming career.

This accomplishment means a lot to the girls. “It’s amazing, especially defeating Kennedy for our last dual who is our biggest rival this season,” senior swimmer Anna Stillman said. “I’m so proud of the team for being able to accomplish such a major goal of ours.”

The undefeated mark of the senior girls adds to the list of reasons to get to a meet and watch the team dominate as they have been for years.

“I think the most important thing is the unity of our team. People definitely stepped up on Tuesday night, and do every meet when we need them to,” Stillman said.

Going undefeated also requires great coaching and, according to Stillman, the girls could not have completed the goal without coaches Jerry Backstrom and Dick Marcussen, who has said that this is his final year of coaching the team.

The underclassmen on the team have some big shoes to fill after this year’s seniors hang up their suits and goggles. “I think that the underclassmen coming up to be seniors and captains want to follow behind them because it was such an awesome experience this year seeing the seniors finish out their last high school dual meet without losing one,” sophomore swimmer Sammi Hall said. This year’s seniors added to a dominating streak of 70 dual meets without a single loss over the past 10 years.