Seahorses wrap up summer

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Sports

August 2, 2019 - 4:55 PM

Last Saturday, the Iola Seahorses capped off their swimming season in Chanute for the SEK League swim meet. 

The meet consisted of Iola, Erie, Independence, Humboldt, Cherryvale, Coffeyville, Chanute and Fort Scott. The Seahorses placed 4th in the B division and 5th in the A division. 

This summer season was the first for coaches Marcia Davis and Ali Peters. The swimming program was threatened by flooding in late May, but the coaches helped steer the program in the right direction to improve swimmers of all ages and abilities. 

The SEK League meet was the last opportunity for Seahorse swimmers to make their mark on the season, and the results lived up to Davis’ expectations. 

“We think it went great,” Davis exclaimed. “We had 38 swimmers that improved their times, and had one that improved their time by 10 seconds. Some were four and others were six, but Ali and I thought it was amazing that 28 swimmers had personal best times at the meet.”

Individually at the meet, Noah Showengerdt finished as the runner-up in the 11-12 age group A division in points accumulated, and his sister, Belle, was the runner up in the 9-10 age group B division. 

“They showed a lot of drive and willingness to come to practice, and continued to work on their strokes,” Davis said. 

“There are always things that you can look back on, and say ‘we should have worked more on the dolphin kick’, or something like that,” Davis said. “Overall, Ali and I are pleased with the season. We thought it went well, and have already thought about some things we can do next year to help the kids improve.”

Davis emphasized that finding more improvements will come from creating ways to emphasize the importance of attending practice consistently, along with different drills to sharpen up technique. 

“Ali and I have talked about working on technique a lot more,” Davis said. “We want to work more on drills and fine tuning that will help us swim faster and look smoother in the water.” 

Becoming a new coach for a program is always difficult and Davis is looking forward to next season, with the groundwork for Iola swimming layed down. 

“This year being the first one, Ali and I didn’t know the kids or parents. We didn’t know them as individuals, and all the different ways we could motivate them.” Davis said. “Next year, being with some of the same kids, I will know them better and how to motivate them and improve their skills.”

At all of the Iola swim meets, at least one team per meet had nearly twice the number of swimmers as the Seahorses. Those low numbers hurt Iola’s chances of scoring points in swim meets, and also played a negative effect for relay teams. 

So far, Davis doesn’t have any plans set in stone, but wants the area’s youth to know that nothing is better than starting your day off at the pool. Davis will take the next few months to develop recruiting plans, and other ways to make Iola swimming more successful. 

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