Hard work and leadership finally paid off for many swimmers this past season as Lauren Massot, freshman, Kaitlin Kittelson, sophomore, Leah Votava, junior,  and Ellie Straub, senior, earned All State Swimming Honorable Mention with a thirteenth place finish in the 200 medley relay at state.  The team also had two relay teams qualify for state, both Massot and Kaitlin Kittelson qualified individually for the state competition, and the team broke many school records in the process.  But this success did not just arise from raw swimming talent.  The team rallied around lane five, which is made up of the most talented swimmers, as they raced to one of the best swimming seasons in Westminster history.

On the Westminster swim team, lane five generally consisted of Straub, Votava, Massot, Kittelson, Kaitlin Terschak, freshman, Amber Terschak, senior, and Megan Galvin, sophomore.  These talented swimmers not only showed up to swim but to set an example as leaders.

“Since lane five has the top swimmers, the rest of the team, especially the newcomers, look to that lane to set the mood, pace, and character of the practice, meets, and season,” said Kent Kehr, swim coach.

Often times, each lane in a swimming pool will be made up of different people creating a different identity for each lane.  This year, lane 5 created the morale for the whole team.

“Although each lane seems to create their own identity, the character of the team usually is identified with lane five.  This year, loyalty, love and perserverance were the underlying character traits of the girls in lane five,” said Kehr.

This group of swimmers knew the talent and experience they could bring individually to the team, but  the 200 Medley Relay team learned through the season that if they stuck together as a team they could accomplish even more.

“It was a blessing that these girls in lane five were put together… As coaches… we saw that the girls, at the start, maybe had an inkling of what they could do individually… but they had no idea that due to the bonds between them they could accomplish so much more,” said Kehr.

The relay team defined what it means to be a team.  They stuck together through adversity, separating them from many other talented swimmers that are unwilling to accept the team aspect of high school swimming.

“Their loyalty and commitment to not let the others down plus just loving to be a part of each others life helped each of them do way more than they could do as individuals,” said Kher.

The swim team finished off the season with an 11-3 regular season record. They also took first place in the Ladue Invitational and second place in their Metro League tournament.  This great success stemmed from the talent and leadership shown by lane five and others throughout the season.