Although Park lost against Chanhassen Oct. 8, the team accomplished a lot over the course of the meet. According to coach Amanda Forsberg, the team saw significant improvements in their times and technique.

“This is one of the top teams in the state, we saw some really good times,” Forsberg said. “We did much better on our breakouts, coming out of the turns and more focus which is good.”

Senior Gabbie Kruse said that although the team lost the meet against Chanhassen, they improved on their times and morale. 

“Everybody tried their hardest, and people improved on their times. It’s not about the points on the scoreboard, it’s about racing the clock,” Kruse said.

Kruse said the team has been having conversations about how it can improve as a whole.

“We’ve had talks before every meet about turns and kicks, and I saw a big improvement with every girl listening to the coaches and taking what they say into account, and it’s showing off in their swims,” Kruse said.

Junior Kim Parkinson said the meet could have gone a little better with a little more motivation, despite the successful races.

“I felt like some people didn’t push themselves as hard as they should have in certain cases, and they should’ve started pushing themselves more at the finish,” Parkinson said.

According to Kruse, the team can improve on having an optimistic attitude throughout their entire season.

“We make some self-deprecating jokes, especially when we are going against a team like Chanhassen, who’s third in (the) state,” Kruse said. “We set ourselves up to lose when we should treat every meet the same, and that will really help with the mindset we have going into a race.”

Forsberg said the final home meet for the season feels strange, especially for all of the seniors leaving at the end of the season.

“It’s crazy because we have such a big group, this is the biggest group that has graduated in a long time. So we really empty out next year, it’s a little bittersweet,” Forsberg said. “Luckily, we were able to do something special for them at the beginning of the year when we were outside at the Rec Center.”

Park will have its final meet before sections against Robbinsdale Cooper at 6 p.m. Oct. 13 at Plymouth Middle School.