How Century girls swimming has mastered the art of building relay teams - Post Bulletin | Rochester Minnesota news, weather, sports

ROCHESTER — While swimming is typically an individual sport, relay teams must work together to come out on top.

There’s an art to deciding the right technique, order and speed.

The Century girls swimmers have their method down with notable victories to show for it.

Century won both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay events at the Section 1, Class 2A True Team meet on Saturday, Oct. 12 in Lakeville.

Last month, the Panthers' 200 freestyle relay team placed first while the 200 medley relay team came in second at the Maroon and Gold Invitational on Sept. 28, 2024, at the University of Minnesota.

The Panthers’ 200 medley relay team consists of junior Sophie Blixt (backstroke), sophomore Michelle Li (breaststroke), junior Chloe Magnuson (butterfly) and junior Sarah Homme (freestyle).

Blixt, Magnuson and Homme all swim the 200 freestyle relay along with freshman Ally Pool.

At the Maroon and Gold Invitational, the relay teams competed against opponents they will face again in the future if they make it to state competition.

“It was fun to see where we're at right now in the season and where other teams are at,” Homme said. “It was really encouraging to see that our hard work in practice is paying off. We're doing good, the energy was high and getting second and first in the relays was just really exciting. I've never done that well before, and so doing that well with my relay team was very exciting.”

Blixt, Magnuson and Homme have almost always been on the same relay team since seventh grade while Li and Pool are newer additions.

As for the 200 freestyle, choosing the optimal order for each leg is key. Blixt said the second faster swimmer or the person with the fastest flat start goes first, the slowest goes second, the fastest goes last and the third fastest swims third.

“Try to put your fastest swimmers first, to get out ahead of the wake and ahead of the other swimmers,” Blixt said. “You're ahead, which helps Ally and Sarah finish and kind of have that fight at the end. (Sarah is) going to be swimming against some of those faster swimmers on the other team, but because she has that little advantage of being ahead first, it kind of helps her be able to finish this race strong and hopefully win.”

Homme said each person’s individual skills are taken into account, which is why she is often at the back of the relay to help the team finish strong.

“I fight for it,” Homme said. “I like the race aspect, and I like trying to out-touch someone.”

Pool, who typically swims third in the 200 free relay, said she prefers her in-between spot.

“There's too much pressure going first or last,” Pool said. "Going in the middle is a lot easier, I feel like, and there's not as much of a big race, and you still want to get ahead, but it's a nice middle pace.”

Magnuson said one of the most important things to know when swimming a relay is how the other team members finish, or how a swimmer touches the wall to end a race.

“If you're starting off with somebody and if you don't know how they finish, if they take a long stroke or a short stroke, you could defeat the relay,” Magnuson said. “So, we kind of just have to get used to that and practice off of each other.”

Swimmers often compete in multiple events during a meet, so proper preparation is key to ensure they’re at their best.

During practice, the girls work on relay racing a couple of days each week.

“Once or twice a week we'll practice relay exchanges or starts or something like that,” Blixt said. “That's when we usually get the timing of getting the start right and making sure we know how to go off each other. And especially when we're switching the order up, we kind of have to practice a lot of different ones.”

On meet days, Magnuson said it’s crucial to incorporate enough warm-up and cool-down time into their routines.

“You just have to give 100 percent to every race,” Magnuson said. “You might get a little bit tired at the end, but that's the thing with racing.”

One technique Homme uses is treating her other events as a warm-up for the relay, specifically when she swims the 500 freestyle and the 200 freestyle relay back-to-back.

“I just take the 500 (free) out as hard as I can go, and then I mentally use it as a warm-up because I tell myself, ‘I just swam. I'm warmed up. Now this (50-meter leg) on this relay is going to be amazing,’ and it usually works,” Homme said. “I feel like I swim so much better when I've done the 500 beforehand because then I'm mentally prepared and I'm physically pumped up and ready to go.”

The group agreed there’s less pressure swimming a relay since the attention isn’t focused on just one person.

“When you just swim a normal event, it's a lot more serious,” Pool said. “I think it's just a lot more fun because then you know that it's not just you racing, you also have your team with you.”

Li said: “I just really enjoy swimming the team (events); it's not an individual event. You always know that your teammates are supporting you behind the blocks. They can carry you through the entire relay.”

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How Century girls swimming has mastered the art of building relay teams - Post Bulletin | Rochester Minnesota news, weather, sports