Park’s synchronized swimming team made a splash at their meet against Blake April 19. The meet included various routines from teams of various sizes, as well as solos. During the “All That Jazz” routine, the music paused for a brief moment, causing the group of Park swimmers’ moves to be off beat. Due to this technical difficulty, the team had to redo the entire routine. Despite this unfortunate mishap, Park came out victorious. The swimmers finished the meet with an overall win and incredibly bloodshot eyes, as the chlorine in Blake’s pool was intense.
According to senior captain Mae Turman, the team worked well together on Friday.
“It was solid. Everyone really performed to their best and it went really well,” Turman said.
Routines require a lot of time to learn and memorize. Synchro coach Audrey Kruse said the team has made some great leaps with this meet.
“It was the first routines meet, so there are definitely both strengths and weaknesses. I’m really proud of how much we’ve been practicing and learning the routines itself,” Kruse said. “Personally, when I swam, we never swam without goggles, so I think it’s awesome, especially for the new swimmers to learn how to swim without goggles. I was very impressed with how well they moved around the pool.”
When it comes to curating routines, sophomore Axel O’Hara said it takes a lot of effort to practice and plan.
“We have to write all the routines, then we have to memorize them, and learn how to do them on land with music,” O’Hara said. “Then learn how to swim them, perfect them and make any necessary changes.”
Part of routines meets is creating a music mix for each routine, which the swimmers themselves have to produce. According to sophomore Lexa Rischall, deciding on the music for their solo was an easy choice.
“For teams, it took a while but for my solo and duet it was kind of was instinct because I just had to find something I vibed with and could dance to,” Rischall said. “Then for my duet, I had to find something super upbeat that my duet partner would think was also really fun.”
Following this meet, Kruse said the team just needs to perfect the moves within its routines.
“We need to work on polishing everything up, making sure that we are all on the same count, increasing height with both hybrids, lifts, pop ups, everything. Once we get to that, it’s going to really push formations closer together and increase movement in the pool,” Kruse said. “All of that contributes to polishing up your return and being ready for sections.”
Turman said although the team has only a few meets so far, it has already shown great potential.
“I’m pleasantly surprised with everybody, very happy with how it’s going,” Turman said. “We’re only halfway through the season, we have another half to go so I’m excited to see where it takes us.”
The next synchro routines meet will be against Bloomington at 5:00 p.m. April 26 at Richfield Middle School.
