From lessons to meets, freshmen Jaden Anton, Ashley Salgado and Annika Senn have been swimming since they were little. They started years ago and have been competing with the Newton Nitros ever since.

Even with club experience, they all have noted several dramatic differences between club swimming and high school swim team.

“Well, in high school swimming meets are a lot more energetic and fun. People cheer more, and the vibes are just different,” Salgado said. “In club, there is more pressure. Like at practices, we do longer distances and higher intervals but with high school swim, we do more sprinting.”

Despite the differences in structure and workouts, they believe their experience from club has helped prepare them for their first high school season. All three have qualified for state in various events.

“It definitely helps. Like, club it pushes you and you keep seeing improvement. With the high school, it’s not as intense and club definitely made me have a good start to the high school swim season,” Anton said.

Their previous years of experiences swimming competitively has played a role in developing strong bonds with other girls.

“Swimming has impacted my life by just knowing how to get through a challenging race and it has helped me make so many friends that I never would’ve made without swimming,” Senn said.

All three girls agree that bonding together and forming a family within their team is extremely important.

“You feel a lot more like a team in high school,” Salgado said.