According to senior captain Max Bechtold, peak week is the intense week before tapering, where they work significantly harder in practices.

“We just got off of peak week — it’s a week where (Coach Forsberg) gives us increased yardage, a lot of difficult sets,” Bechtold said. “It’s generally made to train us one final time before we get into taper where we decrease the yardage and therefore get faster when we actually swim in the meet.”

Sophomore Ben St. Clair said the team is training hard making him sure that they will stay strong in the final weeks before Sections.

“The last couple practices of peak week went really well, so I feel confident going into these final two weeks of practice,” St. Clair said.

According to Forsberg, along with their fast times, the swimmers will also have to prepare psychologically for the big meet.

“I always talk to them about mental prep. It’s not just the swimming part, it’s also mental. Diet and other things could affect your swimming like staying up to the late hours of the night,” Forsberg said.

St. Clair said the tough practices during peak week is what will help them prepare for Sections and taper.

“The practices were hard, but we put a lot of yards in so I think things are looking good going into taper, which is the last two weeks before the meet,” St. Clair said.

One way to prepare your mind is by doing visualizations to help relax the swimmers, St. Clair said.

“We are going to do visualization because the Section meet can be very stressful especially for newer people,” St. Clair said.

According to Bechtold, he hopes the team is prepared for the top competitors they will see at Sections.

“It’s a lot of different teams, and there’s a lot of room to be competitive there, especially people going for top eight and to go on the podium and get a medal,” Bechtold said. “There’s going to be a lot of competition, and I hope everyone has that mindset ready.”

St. Clair said taking care of his body is the key to preparing to Sections.

“Icing after practice if something feels bad, rolling out muscles and trying to keep proactive,” St. Clair said.

Forsberg said her goals for the meet are to have swimmers place and to have a few kids and relays advance to state.

“I want to get as many kids in the top eight as possible and try to get a couple of kids to State along with some relays,” Forsberg said.

The sections preliminary meet will take place at 6 p.m. on Feb. 21 at the Art Downey Aquatics Center and will be followed by the sections finals at 1 p.m. on Feb. 23.