The PHU Swim and Dive team has been working hard constantly since the beginning of their season in August. Countless practices, runs, and time in the gym, they’ve been grinding and definitely earning what they deserve. With an undefeated season so far, boys placed 1st at PCACS with girls as a close runner-up. PCACs was also the same day as Homecoming, proving how dedicated these students are to their sport, as they were in Largo competing all day, from 5:30 in the morning. “PCACs was so fun! It was tiring, but our girls did so well. With it being prelims and finals all in one day, it was a later meet, but I still managed to make it to Homecoming late.” says Megan Miller (24′). PHU boys also took first place in every single individual event, with junior Anthony Simmons also breaking a PCAC record in 100 butterfly, which hasn’t been broken for 15 years.
Last Friday they competed at Districts, which was held at the Long Center in Clearwater. Now Palm Harbor is ranked a 4A school, out of 1A, 2A, and 3A who all have different District meets. This means our District competition has the fastest schools, some of the fastest people, and is overall argued to be the most competitive. This also means it’s harder to place high, to qualify for Regions. The PHU team had amazing races all around, with everyone beating their times in every race. “It’s so exciting seeing people so happy after dropping time in their races and watching all the hard work they put in pay off. At Districts I felt so proud of my teammates and how much they’ve accomplished this season.” says
Megan (24′). When the swimmers get to Districts, each team has a specific time to warm up, and
more than one team can be in the pool at one time. Then they change into tech suits, which are basically suits a lot tighter than their normal size, and better quality. They are used for important meets to make swimmers go faster. After races spectators and swimmers can also buy food or drinks from concessions, which may be too much for the average swimmer before the meet ends, as nerves run high.
Many swimmers can be seen at the end of the lane cheering on their teammate in the water, but because of PHU’s huge team that puts others to shame, they easily form crowds to cheer along with their coaches, Coach McCann, Coach Bitting, and Coach John. “I love cheering for my friends and teammates, and I also love when I see them cheering for me at the other end of the pool when I’m getting ready to
race. I feel like it motivates me knowing that I have such a supportive team,” says Megan (24′). The PHU boys placed 1st at Districts, and the girls placed a very close 2nd place, losing first to Newsome by only 1.5 points. Many of our swimmers will be moving on to Regions on November 3rd, and the ones who qualify there, will then move on to States in another week to close off competition for the season.
