Thus far in the season, the girls swimming and diving team have picked up right where last year’s team left off. The dominant team is already picking up better times than last season and is looking to only get better as the season progresses.

This team, like every year, is quite senior-heavy. The senior class is led by veterans Camryn McMurry, Grace Skiljan, and Lauren Zone. All three of these seniors made state runs last year, and they aim to go just as far, if not further, this season. This season, McMurry has specialized in the 50 free and the 100 free, where she holds the 15th best time (25.63) and the eighth-best time (55.22). Lauren Zone has a top time in the 50 free this season, right behind McMurry, with a 26.45 time. For Grace Skiljan, she continues to dominate in the 100 free this season holding onto the 21st best time in the area (57.4). 

The relays this year have been one of the team’s most impressive features. The team is placed eighth in the area for the 200 freestyle relay (1:43.83), 13th for the 400 freestyle relay (3:51.46), and 10th in the 200 medley relay (1:57.16). When comparing these relay times to last year, they are just about on pace to tie or even pass them. In the 200 freestyle, they are one second behind, and in the 400 freestyle, they are about four seconds behind. 

When looking at the young talent that this team has, two names stick out far more than anyone else: Sara Schloss and Samantha Lee. Schloss is a freshman diver who has been absolutely crushing it. At this point in the season, she is ranked sixteenth amongst divers in the area with six dives for a score of 170.80. Schloss is one of the reasons that the Westminster diving team has become one of the best there have been in program history, adding to the talented duo of Margo O’Meara and Kyleigh Peer. The other freshman is Samantha Lee, who will easily be a top-five distance racer in the future. At this point in the season, Lee has raced in the 500 freestyle, where she managed to get the ninth-best time in the area (5:16.57), and the 200 freestyle, where she holds the fourteenth-best time (2:01.27). On her club team, Lee races in the mile, but since that particular race is not held in high school athletics, she has been forced to step out of her comfort zone to compete in other events.

The diving sensation Margo O’Meara is off to a hot start, as usual. The junior Duke commit has already grabbed the number one spot in St. Louis for diving both eleven dives and six dives. For eleven dives, she has 606.55 points, and for six dives, she has 384.75. In her most recent endeavor, she claimed first place at the Invitational in Columbia, Missouri, beating the second place diver by over 200 points. O’Meara will surely make an appearance at state this season and look to win herself another state championship. 

As the season reaches the halfway point in the season, the team is only continuing to improve. As their relay times shorten and individual racers begin to make state cuts, they will be sure to have an amazing end to the season while making a huge run in the state tournament.