As the regular season comes to an end, the Woodmen swim team looks to head into Sectionals feeling on top of the swimming world.

The boys dual meet against New Palestine and Roncalli takes place on Monday. The girls Sectional meet takes place on Thursday at Center Grove. 

“We are really looking for some good competition against New Pal and Roncalli. They are some pretty good programs, but we fully expect to win and feel good after that meet. We are really hoping to set up some pretty good times for Sectional to feel and look good,” sophomore Emmanuel Jackson said.

New Palestine and Roncalli are the perfect teams to swim against, not as quick as the Woodmen’s typical competition but quick enough to keep the Woodmen on their fins.

“They’re definitely not as fast as teams we usually play, like Center Grove and Franklin, but they still have fast swimmers, so that will prevent us from slowing down any and not being prepared for the more important meet, Sectionals,” sophomore David Brenton said.

This meet can also play a big part in the Woodmen swimmer’s Road to State, allowing them to get good times and to know what times they may need to qualify.

“This meet will give us a good look at where we will place with our times in the individual and relay events. It will also kind of tell us where we will place as a team with points. Then, we will know what we will have to do to get the times and points we would need at Sectionals,” Jackson said.

The meet will give the Woodmen swimmers a good break from big meets to help better relax and focus everybody for the upcoming Sectional.

“I think it will be a good build-up of focus because we just finished conference meets. Since those meets are always bigger, with all  eightof the conference teams being there, this meet will be a break from that bigger meet. This will allow us to get our technique and speed down,” Brenton said.

While the Woodmen focus on New Palestine and Roncalli, the Lady Woodmen focus on their Sectional that takes place much sooner.

“About two weeks before Sectionals start, we start our Sectional preparation. Specifically, we do this thing called tapering a lot. Taper is when we are focusing on speed-based stuff to help us better prepare for Sectionals. We also really focus in on eating and sleeping better so we can swim to the best of our ability,” sophomore Annie Chrisman said.

The Woodmen will see tons of familiar faces at their Sectional. These teams include Center Grove, Franklin Community, Indian Creek, Martinsville, Mooresville, Perry Meridian, Southport, and Whiteland Community. 

“We always do morning practices for a week, stop morning practices, then do tapers and focus on cutting off distance. We also prepare by focusing on our times and opponents times, which is pretty easy. We face a lot of familiar faces, like Whiteland and Center Grove,” sophomore Emma Tschopp said. 

Tschopp emphasized the huge expectations she has for herself in the Sectional meet as well as the team expectations. 

“In my individual events, I think I am going to do really good. The relays I am in will do really well as well. I have a pretty high expectation for myself and the team. I think the team will do really good and will definitely at least hold our seeded spot. I know most of us will qualify for Regionals,” Tschopp said.

Tschopp is not the only one who has high expectations for herself and the team, which is a good sign of a confident and good team. 

“I know I will definitely do better than I did last year. I have improved a lot and I am excited to see how I do. As a team, we are going to perform really well and I know it. We have some freshmen who are very good and fast. And all of us on the team are faster than we were last year, giving us a bit more of an upper hand coming into the Sectional meet,” Chrisman said.