The boys and girls varsity swim teams both came out victorious at the MIAA State Championships. The boys continued their three-year winning streak with another win, and the girls redeemed themselves with their first states win in five years.

“[Winning] was very exciting, especially as a senior since its our last year, so I [felt] like all our hard work was paying off,” girls senior captain Amanda Armstrong said.

After a refreshing win for the girls, the boys rose to their winning reputation with momentum from past years’ wins. According to boys senior captain Edmond Giang, the boys had confidence from past wins but were aware that they still needed to work hard to come out on top.

“[We knew we were] missing a few key pieces to our team, so with that in mind we went harder in sets to make up for the talent that we lost,” Giang said.

According to Armstrong, the girls used various strategies to contribute to their success at states. They combined mental and physical strength exercises to train for their races. The girls trained their minds and bodies throughout the season, ultimately leading up to their successes in the 200 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay and other events.

“We always do this thing called visualization, which [basically] means you lie on the ground and visualize your event or your swim, and I think that’s really helpful because you picture yourself there and it gets rid of the nerves,” Armstrong said. “We also work the whole season doing a lot of practices, dry land [and] hard work.”

The boys team put in extra effort before practice leading up to their numerous successes, which included the 400 freestyle relay, 100 yard breaststroke and the 200 yard relay.

“Before practice, we would always work on stretching or doing some dry land workouts in order to strengthen our bodies outside of the pool,” Giang said.

Armstrong attributes the team’s success not only to training and putting in hard work but also to bonding and bringing the team together.

“As a team, we were much more talented in general and also we were closer,” Armstrong said. “I really feel like we really worked hard to create the bond that we didn’t have in past years.”

According to Giang, finishing his high school swimming career with a third states win for the team made him hopeful for the team’s future.

“It felt really good winning three [state championships] in a row,” Giang said. “Not a lot of teams can do that, and I hope they can do it next year.”