“I was just being in the moment and enjoying the swims” is how Coach Alyssa Dillon sums up her second state experience as the Discoverer Swim team’s head coach. She also stated how proud she is of the dedicated swimmers she has worked with over the past 3 months. 

As a team, the Discoverers made it to state in the girls medley relay, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, boys medley relay, and 200 free relay. Maddie Schulz (100 back), Ben Jacobs (200 and 500 free), and Josue Mendez (50 free and 100 breast) also qualified for state as individuals. A lot of work went into the last few months to get these fast times, but the last two weeks looked a little different. In their last weeks, the state team started taper. Taper, according to Coach Dillon is when they cut down on distance, but increase the amount of sprints. Dillon also encourages her team to live with a positive mindset while on taper, stating that swimming is 75% mental. It is really easy to beat yourself up or give up on a hard workout if you don’t push yourself mentally. 

Overall, Coach Dillon is very happy with the conclusion of the swim season. Josue Mendez made it to finals in the breast, finishing in 15th overall. This is the Discoverers second year in a row making it to finals under Dillons coaching. 

While the swim team will miss seniors Kaira Dallman, Julia Davidchik, Alexis Haynes, Ben Jacobs, Morgan Johansen, Josue Mendez, Josh Nelson, and Maddie Schulz, who all went to state, Coach Dillon can see a lot of underclassmen stepping up next season and filling in the big gaps that all of the seniors are leaving behind.   

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