Both the boys and girls swim teams kicked off their season on November 6th, at home against Union City, Fulton, and Adairsville. The two teams are flourishing this year with an abundant amount of new swimmers for both, along with returning veterans. Practices began on October 26, giving swimmers time to train and polish off the dust ahead of their 3-4 month-long season.
“I feel like this will probably be our best season that I’ve ever had at Darlington,” senior Sammy Lewis said. “I just feel that we have a lot of good swimmers and most of us are at our highest capabilities, and we’re just an all-around better team than we’ve been in the past.”
Across the lanes, swimmers are in high spirits ahead of the 2025-26 season for both competitive and personal reasons.
“I’m really excited about the upcoming swim season with it being my first year on the high school swim team and because in sixth grade I had the same swim coach that I do now for high school and I was really sad whenever she left because she was the one who actually taught me how to competitively swim so it’s really cool to be back with her,” freshman Olivia Crane said.
The season itself looks promising, according to team members, due to the talent and makeup of the team. However, the season opener, in particular, has swimmers pumped up and optimistic.
“Usually, we have really good opening meets. We do really good and set a good standard for ourselves at our first meet, so that’s how I feel we’re going to do tomorrow,” Lewis said, commenting on the meet the day before.
The team’s confidence towards the upcoming season as a whole is encouraging and sparking ambitious goals for their future.
“Overall, make it to state, but also just to get closer as a team, build stronger bonds with each other,” Lewis said.
The main and final goal for the season is making the GHSA state championships, but the seemingly small, semi-personal goals are vital, contributing to and making the overall hope possible and attainable.
“Our goals are basically just to cut off time. We’re doing this new thing where we time ourselves every Thursday with a 50 freestyle, and then we just try and get less time each time,” Crane said.
Lewis, who is a long-time member and a three-year captain, brings veteran expertise and new perspectives to the blossoming team. He spoke to the fantastic quality and characteristics of his blended team for the season.
“Even if I weren’t captain, the team still knows how to function properly. And we get things done, so I don’t think I need to enforce any rules or change anything on the team,” Lewis said.
The dedication and hard work put in by swim team members during the pre-season is making waves in the pool, hopefully making a positive difference.
“I started practicing a little bit this summer, and I just started practicing seriously a couple of weeks before the season,” Crane said.