The Herriman swim team has recently started up their new season this year and is ready to work hard and make it to regionals as they’ve done in previous years. Their 50 swimmers–many new additions to the teamwork hard on strength and conditioning as well as endurance to prepare for this year’s competitions. 

The swim team practices constantly throughout the week. They are in the pool from 5:00 to 6:30 am from Monday through Thursday, and have weight training from 5:00 to 6:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. The team’s Friday practice starts at 6:00 am and goes till 7:30, and their Saturday practice starts at 6:30 am and ends at 8:00 am. With Sunday as their rest day, they have a very busy week of working. 

At the beginning of practice, the team warms up with a 600 to 700-meter swim in the usual 25-meter pool. They switch between working on strength and conditioning or endurance and long-distance sets depending on the day and what the coach feels like the team needs to work on. Strength and conditioning–while in water–is best achieved by wearing a parachute and a pull buoy, then swimming 16, 25-meter lengths within 70 seconds per length. This process is very grueling for many swimmers and one admitted, “I usually puke by this point…” when asked about this training method. The rest of the training also involves heart-pumping workouts like tricep dips and pushups around the pool as well as swimming.

One of the most important things for swimmers on the team is diet. It is crucial that the team members get enough nutrients to sustain themselves during the high calorie-burning workouts that they do on a daily basis. When asked about diets, one swimmer said, “I would be eating 5 meals per day, having 210 grams of protein, a gallon of water, along with getting all the necessary nutrients like Fiber.” Although they have switched around their diet recently for personal reasons. All the swim members have special diets to aid in their growth as an individual and as a team.

The swim team has always performed well and trained hard to keep up their reputation. Last year the Herriman swim team had competed in state and placed second in the region, and they were region champions previous to that. This year, the team has been using these past few meets to practice for state and regional competitions and show the other teams what Herriman High can do while also aiming to be as respectful as possible to the other teams.

This year will be especially hard for the team as they had a lot more young people join the team than in previous years. An upperclassman on the team stated, “We have so many younger kiddos who haven’t built their bodies as much as their upperclassmen.” When asked about the state of the team. The upperclassmen and coaches are aiming to help the younger kids catch up and build up strength and endurance while simultaneously improving the team as a whole.

Many students at Herriman High don’t know much about the swim team or know that we have one at all. One student stated, “We talk to [Principal Quarnberg], and he always comes as much as he can…no one really supports us [at Herriman High.]” Despite the lack of school spirit that the team receives, the team is feeling excited and optimistic as they prepare for the region championship.