Formidable Force
SLIPPERY ROCK -- Having posted a spotless 12-0 record and claimed the Region 1 crown, the Slippery Rock high school girls swim team has shown to be a formidable force this season.
They’ll have another chance to prove so at the District 10 Championship meet this weekend.
“We have just the right mix,” Rockets coach Kirby Burns said. “We’ve got a few really strong swimmers and then we have a really good supporting cast of swimmers that just kind of cover all the bases. And that’s why we’ve moved through the league with relative ease.
“We just have the right arsenal to really bring it when it comes to a complete meet.”
In all, Slippery Rock will send 11 individuals to the title meet. Juniors Natalie Double and Gracie Olshanski and freshmen Mollie Massella and Ann-Katherine Burns lead the group, with the other contenders being Elise Cagle, Maddy Gauselmann, Maggie Massella, Sarah McCandless, Kaitlyn Parson, Katie Shea, and Tessa Syzmanski.
Each of the swimmers have contributed to the depth that allows the team to rack up points at an impressive clip, even against powerful opposition.
“There’s a couple teams that have really good traditions and we geared up and tried to load up as best we could when we swam them,” Coach Burns said. “And you could just see them deflate … It was really heartening to see that. Our kids would really just rise to the occasion.”
Made up of Double, Olshanski, Mollie Massella and Ann-Katherine Burns, the Rockets’ 200 IM relay team was undefeated in all dual meets. It turned in a top time of 1:54.34.
“We all knew exactly what to do and how to support each other and I think that helped a lot in our success,” Olshanski said.
So too did the fact that each of the members of that quartet shine in their own respective lanes.
Olshanski is a strong competitor in the freestyle events, posting qualifying marks of 25.25 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and 56.96 seconds in the 100-yard variety. Double, a dominant backstroker, met the criteria in five different events. Massella does well in the butterfly and Burns in the breaststroke.
“We have a lot of experienced swimmers who have been doing it for a very long time and we’re all very devoted to the sport,” Olshanski said. “Working towards it like that, it worked out really well in our favor.”
The crew’s top performers have been swimming since they were young.
“About half of the team I coached when they were little,” said Coach Burns, who also helps with a couple of local youth teams. “That’s a big assist to the team to have experienced swimmers.”
Olshanski has spent time with the Slippery Rock Eels and the Butler Barracudas. Double has been part of the Eels team since she was eight. The extended involvement has been another factor in the Rockets achievement.
“I think a lot of us just have heart,” Double said. “We have confidence in ourselves and we want to work as a team as much as we can because we all want that end goal.”
The Rockets 200 IM, 200 Freestyle, and 400 Freestyle relays will all travel, too.
“I think we’re going to do really well,” Olshanksi said. “I expect a lot of good times for all of us and I think we’ll place pretty high up there … We’re hoping to go to states and I think that’s in the future for us.”
