Sewanee Aquatics: Conference, and What Comes After

In the early morning hours on a Sunday morning last February, the Sewanee Swim & Dive team pulled back onto campus in the pouring rain. It was a mad dash to grab gear and run home or find a ride. It was an odd mix of goodbyes, every athlete soaked through with rain and exhaustion.

That morning was the first few hours of the off season. Just the night before, however, the team had been in the water for the fourth day of finals. 

The last session came with a bittersweet feeling to the end of a season unlike any other. The team honored their four seniors, Riley Carswell, George Mabry, Jack Goodson, and Peter Heck. All four of these athletes have played a special role on this team. They’ve left their mark in ways they can never imagine, and have carried the team’s energy throughout the entire season.

Conference would also mark Head Dive Coach Paisley Simmons’ last competition in her position. Paisley, the ultimate team mom and beloved coach, has been the team’s backbone, as well as a highly successful diver during her time at Sewanee. Her passion for diving as well as her love for her team is evident to everyone she meets. The team wishes her luck as she pursues her future in graduate school!

Under the leadership of Coach Mark Fino, the team made some big moves over four days of Conference. They brought home ten new top ten all-time Sewanee records, most notably including Naeem Mangum C’26 with the second all-time fastest Men’s 100 Breaststroke (56.83), George Mabry with the second fastest Men’s 100 Butterfly (51.51), along with Audrey Francell C’26 with the third fastest Women’s 50 Freestyle (24.27).

Two of the new top-ten times were new school records in the Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay (1:37.36) and 400 Freestyle Relay (3:35.20), set by Audrey Francell C’26, Riley Carswell C’24, Natalia Evans C’26, and Mary Louise LeMieux C’25.

It was exciting to get so many members of the team up on the podium, including Katie Walker C’25 taking second in women’s 3-meter diving, with a score of 297.10.

Conference was a four day whirlwind of record breaking improvement, and emotions ran high. Each session brought with it personal bests, tears of joy, tears of disappointment, laughter, hugs, and lasts. As the season drew to a close, the team drove home in the dark, back to their normal routine of classes and extracurriculars, leaving the 2024 SAA Conference Championships behind them. 

This season has fostered a lot of change, and with that change came endings. However, endings are just as much the beginning of new things: new futures, new possibilities, and new opportunities to start things you’d wish would never end. Members of the Sewanee Swim & Dive team will always remain a part of that family, whether or not they’re on deck, in the water, or across the country.

The last days of the season were washed away by freezing February rain. The next time the team would meet, the last time they would truly all be together as the 23-24 Swim & Dive team, it was sunny and warm. They met for the end of season banquet in March. There, they took time to be together, celebrate each other’s successes, and plan for whatever the future might hold. Some things will be different. There will be new coaches, new traditions, new records to break, and of course, the incoming class of 2028. One thing that will stay the same will be this team’s commitment to itself, and its members’ ongoing support of one another.