You open the huge silver doors. The warm, humid, chlorine infused air hits your nose as soon as you break the threshold. Water is kicked up out of the pool and onto the slick tiled deck. The athletes skillfully break the water’s surface tension and propel themselves forward with each stroke. Their goggles are tied tight. Their caps are on. They are the Alden Girls Varsity Swim Team, and it’s a great day to be a Bulldog.

In fact, it’s going to be a great year to be a Bulldog, according to Head Coach, Liz Osucha who said, “We have a really strong team this year and we should expect more wins.” Although last season’s MVP, Abby Blendowski, has graduated, the team is still determined to move forward. “We just have some big shoes to fill”, added Mrs. Pelitera, the Assistant Coach. Among their goals for the season are for personal records to be set and for each swimmer to reach her full potential both in and out of the pool. Both coaches agreed that they’d like to see their swimmers support each other throughout the year. Ultimately, their main goal for the team is to “see my swimmers go to Sectionals”, according to Coach Osucha. Last year four of her swimmers went. Now she’s determined to send eight.

Sending eight athletes to Sectionals is no small task for any team. It will be an even greater challenge for this one, which consists of mostly under class-men. Yet they remain optimistic. Captains, Katie Williams and Amanda Weinreber (both seniors), will lead the team this year. Williams and Weinreber are strong swimmers who know how to motivate their teammates. Erin Urbanski and Julia Shalem are also going to be key players this year.

Every day the girls practice the way the want to perform in meets. Swimming is known to be a grueling sport. So far the girls swim about four thousand yards every day. By the peak of their season, Coach Osucha would like to get that number up to at least six thousand. So far their work has paid off. On Tuesday, September 15, they traveled to Springville for their first meet. “Some of the newer girls were nervous, so getting some of those kinks out helped us to get ready for our first home meet”, said Coach Pelitera. Although the Bulldogs officially lost the meet, most swimmers saw their times drop.

At the time of my interview with Coach Osucha and Coach Pelitera, the team was preparing for their next meet against Tonawanda on Friday September 18th. They’d like to finish the week with a record of 1-1. It’s a home meet, and it’s set to begin at 5:30 pm. Friday’s meet should be very intense. Tonawanda is a well-coached, well-trained team, but the girls say they’re excited and ready to “go five-hundred”.