With another swim season underway, head coach Hayley Murphy returns for her third season, focused on building a championship-ready squad. Murphy’s plans focus on teamwork and strategy to maximize points and team success.
“Each meet we change combinations to determine which are the best for our championship level meets,” Murphy said. “I have made some adjustments to our relays to see what combinations will work best for the season. We also change individual races to determine the number of points each swimmer can score individually. At every meet our goal is to score the most points per event to max the number of points scored at the meet.”
Only being two meets into the season, this team has had many standout performances from individual swimmers.
“We had multiple swimmers qualify for the North Half Championships for the first time including Parker McPheron, Shepherd Kempe, and Colin Pickins,” Murphy said. “Preston McPheron was close to breaking a long time school record in the 500 Freestyle. Freshman Madelyn Goolsby stepped up and swam breastroke on that relay, and Maier Jernigan finished second in the 100 breaststroke.”
Building a strong sense of community is a cornerstone of the swim team. With new swimmers joining this season, the team is introducing a “big/little” program at their third regular season meet to ensure everyone feels welcome and supported.
“Our team has always been like a family,” Murphy said. Spending hours together in the water and on the pool deck every day has created strong bonds. For our third regular season meet, we’re introducing a big/little pairing to help keep that closeness alive and ensure everyone feels connected.”
For some of the team’s leaders, this means stepping up to set an example and lead. Holly Cabral is a junior this year. She competes in the 100-meter freestyle and the 50-meter freestyle. Her main focuses for this season are building team chemistry, leading this young team better and making the team a fun environment.
“I have a bigger responsibility of controlling the team and giving the middle schoolers someone to look up to as someone who’s always positive and motivated,” Cabral said. “But also, a lot of the people that I’ve looked up to have left, so I feel I’ll have to step up a bit more.”
Junior Rel Alderson, who competes in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke, is stepping up to take on a leadership role this season as well, as the boys’ swim team has no seniors.
“I’ve noticed that they need a leader overall,” Alderson said. “I’m really ready to fill that position and help better our team.”
Early in the season the chargers have seen success but are still looking to improve on their relay teams and individual scores by buying in on technicality and the small things in practice.
“I have made some adjustments to our relays to see what combinations will work best for the season,” Murphy said. “Each practice we change combinations to determine which combinations are the best for our championship level meets.”
After reflecting on their most recent meet, the team assessed both their strengths and areas for improvement as they prepare for the challenges ahead.
“Well, we’re really close to beating Tupelo in the 200-meter relay,” Alderson said. “We are just really focused on practice right now, just trying to get better at the small things so we can do better at the big meets.”
With their sights set on the next meet, the team is staying motivated.
“Our next meet is a Quad-Meet, meaning we will only swim against three other teams,” Murphy said. “Our relays are currently seeded second for the meet, and our goal is to maintain or improve on that position.”
