Revere’s Women’s swim team earned second place in the yearly sectional competition in early February under new coach Annie Lochridge.

Every year, high school swim teams compete in a sectional competition at the end of the season to see who will qualify for divisionals and eventually states. This year, Revere’s team had the second highest scores for female swimmers against seven other schools. 

Lochridge explained the scoring system.

“For each meet, there are different events, and there’s usually six kids per event. Whoever comes in first gets so many points, whoever comes in second gets so many points, so on and so forth. Whatever school you are from gets those points, then you add up the points, and whoever has the most at the end are the ones who win the meet,” she said.

Divisions are classes that are used to match swimmers evenly based on school enrollment. This year, the women’s swim team participated in division one, the fastest class, and the men’s team participated in division two. Team captain and senior Tarini Gowda explained the difference this change made.

“We were division one this year, our first year being division one, so we were against much bigger teams and faster competition,” she said.

Emmy Schmidt, Abby DiSalvo, Kayla Smith, and Emrie Banks all qualified for districts, the next stage in the swim championships, however, no Revere swimmer progressed to states. Team captain and senior Abby DiSalvo described her experience this year.

“It was a really good season, and I think that sectionals made everyone feel good.  We have a pretty small team, but we still did really well, so it was a good end to a great season,” she said.

To save energy, the team allowed themselves shorter, easier practices before the meet, a practice called tapering. After a successful competition, the team celebrates together. 

“We bring a cookie cake to the end of sectionals and districts and celebrate as a team afterwards,” DiSalvo said.

The swim team’s banquet falls at the end of March.

“I’ll touch base again with the athletes and the coaches, and we will regroup next year and see who’s returning. I’m really excited for a second season,” Lochridge said.

Although next year will only be Lochridge’s second season at Revere, she has been swimming her whole life—as a kid, throughout high school and in college. After graduating, she continued coaching swim.

“This is my first year at Revere, but I have been coaching club since 2014-2015, so eight or nine years I’ve been coaching,” Lochridge said.

She approaches swim with the importance of communication and clear expectations in mind.

“You’re not coaching from in the water; you’re coaching and using your words to communicate and help them understand what to do. When they race, you’re not in the water next to them, you’re on the sidelines. It’s up to them to do what they need to do during that race,” Lochridge said.

The end of the season means the seniors will move on from Revere’s swim team.

“It was my last season and I’ve been swimming for ten years. Now I’m done for good. It was very important and memorable,” Gowda said.

Lochridge summarized her experience this year.

“I’ve loved working at Revere, and I’m really excited to keep the program growing. Special shoutout to the other coaches—Mary and Brandon and Mark Disalvo—and then to the high school administrators and to Mr. Seeker for supporting us so much and making everything work,” Lochridge said.