By Julie Cline, For The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON — Although the final outcome was not what the Highland girls swimming team would have wanted, there were improvements all over the board for the Scots. The Yorktown Tigers beat Highland 123-63 Tuesday night at Highland High School.
“It was a lot closer than last year’s meet against Yorktown,” said Scots coach Dave Renz. “I am pleased with how we did tonight. We are getting faster.”
Many of the girls improved on their times and had personal bests. One, in particular, was standout sophomore Brooke Sigler. Sigler won the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle and got personal bests in both of those races Tuesday night.
“For myself, I’m proud of dropping my time in all my events,” said Sigler. “As a team, I’m proud of everyone going out and swimming their best tonight.”
Along with Sigler, lone senior Sydney Johnson had a night of big performances. Johnson was a part of the 200 medley relay team that placed second, got first in the 200 IM, second in 100-yard butterfly and was part of the 200 freestyle relay that placed second. Although Johnson swam hard, she is working on training after taking a year break.
“I did good, but after taking a year off, I am working on getting as strong as I was when I was a sophomore,” said Johnson.
While Johnson is trying to swim like she did when she was a sophomore, the team is relying a lot on the current class of underclassmen. Tori Brown, sophomore, is stepping up and swimming like an upperclassman. Brown was a part of the 200 medley relay team, the 200 freestyle relay team and got second in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“Tori has really improved more than anyone,” said Renz. “Last year she was here for the social aspect. This year she is here to race.”
Also contributing big points was diver Samantha Roy, who placed second with 163.6 points.
Renz’s young team has made strong strides in improving and only plans on making more as the season continues.
“I’m really proud of the fact that we battled mentally in close races and went after them tonight,” said Renz. “Last year we gave up on those. I saw lots of times drop tonight. We are already better on mental toughness and stronger will, but we are going to keep training and making progress and getting faster as this year goes on.”
