Ridgeline swim team prepares for new season
MILLVILLE, Utah — In the seven years since the opening of Ridgeline High School, their swim team has had a state champion in four of those seasons.
Leading their program since the beginning has been head Coach Taryn McEuen. Coach McEuen has seventeen years of coaching under her belt, with much of her experience in private lessons. Many high schoolers would come to her for specific swim corrections to better compete. Joining McEuen on the coaching staff are Amiah Cook, Owen Mendenhall, and Spencer Hunsaker.
Because of their short history as a school, Ridgeline Swim has seen their fair share of struggles. It was difficult to transfer a whole team to a new school, as well as a challenge for the schools losing athletes. Yet they still had a state champion that year, starting out their streak of champions.
In her second year, Coach McEuen decided to start with the end in mind. With the goal of creating a strong team and individuals, McEuen was able to bind her team together because of their hard work. “Working with teenagers is incredible because they are so full of everything,” explained Coach McEuen, “They are full of hope and despair, energy and defeat. They are full of everything that makes a human a human in an intense version of that.” Being able to channel that energy into something positive and productive is the best part of the job for these coaches.
Swim is largely an individual sport, yet an athlete’s performance buoys up the team’s whole score. There are eleven events in total, eight individual and three relays, each collecting points as they go. Coach McEuen described it as a game of chess: with software that documents all the athletes, teams can see everyone’s rankings. As a coach, she has to make educated guesses on where the opposing teams will place their best competitors and then place her swimmers accordingly to give them the best chance of points.
Last year, the Ridgeline Girls’ Swim team won state, placing them in a great spot for this season. While they always look forward to the end goal, the coaches remind the whole team to focus on the moment and winning today. Because swimming has so many meets, there will be ups and downs. It is important that the swimmers take each competition one step at a time.
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