The Piedmont men’s and women’s swim teams clinched gold in the Independent South Conference championships. The men won it for the first time in program history, while the women went back-to-back last season and this season.
Both teams in the beginning of the season had to travel to Tallulah Falls for practice, after the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center was shut down for three months due to maintenance.
“The kids did the best they could,” said men’s and women’s head coach Tim Guyer. “We don’t feel like we were in great shape at the beginning of the year with the lack of practice time and things like that, but they kept their heads up and kept a positive attitude.”
Men’s Swim
While the men’s swim team may have had the lead at the end of each day, the lead was tight the entire time. At the end of the three-day championship, the Lions clinched the championship with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
“We came to practice with one goal in mind and that’s to win conference,” said junior captain Leo Forero. “Even though we had to practice at a different pool, we worked hard anyway no matter the situation.
After the first day of competition, men’s swim only led second-place Southern Virginia University by one point. With a strong second day they finished ahead by 34 points, and finished the competition ahead by 53, with a total of 612 points.
Men’s swim managed to finish in high spots in most of their races, racking in plenty of second through sixth place finishes to accumulate points. While first place finishes are strong individually, high places guarantee more points for the team as a whole.
“I think that was the big difference is that we just had a deeper team than the team we were swimming,” Guyer said. “We weren’t getting all the firsts, but we’re getting the second, third, fourths in races, and that just meant the difference.”
After a second-place finish last season, falling to Southern Virginia by 129 points, men’s swim accomplished the first championship in program history.
“We won this year because we won as a team,” said Forero. “Our team is a family and nothing is better than family.”
Women’s Swim
Women’s swim finished with 564 points, just 31 points ahead of second-place Southern Virginia University. Each day of the competition, Piedmont held a tight lead over the competition. After day one, they led by 13, and 18 points after day two.
“A lot of times they’re doing [events] they don’t want to do, but they know they’ll score higher, and so we take that,” said Guyer.
The women’s side of the championship saw more of the same strategy. Grabbing high places, while not always obtaining first-place finishes. Three seniors, Gillian Lloyd, Lauren Stone and Lizzie Arrendale contributed to the foundation and championships of the program.
“This one was very important because the boys and the girls won, and this was our first year with seniors,” said sophomore swimmer Maggie Bishop. “That was very meaningful for them, and they were super excited. It just means next year we’re going to have to work harder and find people to fill the spots.”
In both programs’ fourth year in existence, both swim teams have three total championships.
“We’ve gotten off to a great start and we hope that we continue to set a good example,” said Guyer. “Be a team that Piedmont is proud of, you know, the way we act, everything we do, and continue to grow and get better.”
Piedmont swim will start swimming competitively again in the fall of the 2024-25 school year. Keep up to date with Piedmont men’s and women’s swim, as well as all Piedmont athletics at piedmontlions.com.
