One goal that Woodland athletes share is to compete in NVLs with their team. But, for a sport like swimming, athletes need to qualify individually for this selective meet instead of competing with the help of other players. Eva Lynn, a sophomore on the girl’s swim team, has already accomplished this by her second season on the team.
“This was just a really big accomplishment for me because I barely thought I was even going to make the meet,” Lynn said. “But after seeing how far I could go, I felt really proud of myself.”
During NVLs, Lynn competed in multiple events, including the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 200m medley relay, and the 400m freestyle relay.
To get to the point of competing, Lynn, along with the other girls preparing for NVLs, had to do intensive training.
“We never skipped a day of practice,” Lynn said. “And our practice is about two hours long every single day, even on Saturdays.”
The intensive practicing isn’t for nothing; it’s proven to be the driving force behind the multitude of successes that the five-time NVL Championship-winning team has had. The constant “go, go, go” of practices forced the entire team to be at their best by the time the long-awaited meet rolled around, and it evidently paid off.
“People would think that’s really draining,” Lynn said. “But it made us stronger as a team and got us to where we are.”
During this period of wins, the team was also going through multiple changes. At the start of the season, Ray Snyder became the head coach.
“It’s definitely really different having a new coach, but at the same time, it helped our team because it gave us a refresh,” Lynn said. “Even though he was new, he knew what he was doing, which helped us a lot.”
The next step for Lynn is to continue striving for her goals, even out-of-season. And for other athletes trying to pursue similar goals, Lynn suggests concentrating on your own successes instead of those of others.
“When I’m swimming, I sometimes look at the people above me, and I feel like I shouldn’t do that,” Lynn said. “You need to just focus on yourself.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF EVA LYNN.
