Upper St. Clair throughout the years has been respectfully known for not only its academic achievements, but for its athletic ones as well. The swimming program here in the district has proven to meet those successful standards and will be a threat to the section and WPIAL titles this winter.
“Last One Fast One” is a motto that this year’s seniors on the swim team hold dear to their heart. This season will be the last one for this year’s memorable group of seniors who have helped shape the program into the success that it is today.
In this graduation class of 2015’s senior swimmers comes three swimming scholarships, Victoria Schaffer to University of Akron, Ryan Dudzinski to Stanford, and Fynn Minuth to South Carolina.
“All the seniors are captains this year and they show leadership and are good leaders for everyone else on the team,” says Junior swimmer Hannah Wilding.
The main hope that seems to be on the seniors’ minds is to win this year’s WPIAL title and defeat their toughest competitor, North Allegheny. Despite losing to the Powerhouse of NA earlier in the season, Upper St. Clair held its own and lost by only a few points; it was an unexpectedly close competition and certainly brought our Panthers’ confidence levels up.
“I don’t have any time. […] Sometimes we’re [at the High School] twelve hours a day, starting with morning practices at 5:30. […] It’s tough. You just really have to balance your time,” says senior captain and Akron commit Victoria Schaffer. “Sprinting at practices has really shown in a lot of our races this year, though, and we will just continue to get better.”
Even though the long and grueling hours of challenging practices seems unbearable at the time, the hard work put in by the Upper St. Clair Swim Club certainly seems to be paying off, as the regular season comes to an end and playoffs approach.