SportSpage 8Omaha Bryan high SchOOl

the oratorDecemBer 19, 2014

Just a sport? More like a lifestyleKalynn CopenharveAsst. Editor-in-Chief

With winter sports season in full swing, athletes around the school are dedicating themselves to their sports, but for two varsity swimmers dedication to a sport isn’t just a seasonal thing. Junior Evelyn Hall and sophomore Arthur Lehr both started competitive swimming in 7th grade. Both were decent swimmers, but just swimming during the school season wasn’t getting them to the level they wanted to be at. They both decided to join the club team Omaha Swim Federation (OSF). OSF

is a club that has practices and meets all year round. There are three levels that swimmers can be on:

strokes and focus on sprints to improve their times at meets. They also do dryland

compete in several meets throughout the year. The meet that they work towards all year is the Division 2 (D2) meet. If they do well at the D2 meet, they get to compete at the Division 1 (D1) meet. If they do well at the D1 meet, they get to compete at sectionals and if they continue to do well they continue to move up to more challenging meets. For Lehr, the D1 meet is something that he will be trying to qualify for when

the next

opportunity comes.

“I want to try to go to D1s for the 200

backstroke and 400 IM,” Lehr said. Their dedication to swimming has been shown by their choice to swim all year. There have

been many positive results because of this choice. “In all of my events I have dropped three to five seconds,” Hall said. Although these few seconds may not seem like a big deal to the average person, those dropped seconds are crucial to swimmers trying to qualify for meets like state. State is a big deal for

any sport. Last year, Hall, Lehr and eight other swimmers qualified for the state swim meet. Hall

qualified in the 200

freestyle relay, and Lehr

qualified in the 200 medley relay.

Hall and Lehr agree that swimming year

round played a big part in helping them qualify for the state meet. “OSF gives me advantages because it gives me better times and better endurance,” Hall said. This year, both have goals to return to the state meet, but both have goals to return for individual events instead of just relays. Hall says that she wants to go back to state for her 50 freestyle, and Lehr says that he wants to try to qualify for more than one event this year. “(I’ll reach this goal) by training harder and pushing myself past my limit,” Hall said. Both know that these goals are not going to be easy and will take more work than they’ve already

put in.

“I’ll be

pushing myself harder

at practice and swimming fast

even when I’m not supposed to,” Lehr

said. “And also working harder at dryland by lifting

more and building muscle.” Both swimmers have shown their determination to reach their goals by swimming secondary state qualifying times at their first meet, the Benson Invitational. Hall reached the 27.53 secondary qualifying time in the 50 freestyle by swimming a 26.92, and Lehr reached the 1:54.11 secondary qualifying time in the 200 medly relay by swimming a 1:52.76. Because Hall and Lehr swim so often, their entire lives revolve around the sport. They practice 20-25 days almost every month. “It’s everything,” Hall said. “I’ll cancel plans if I need to for swimming.” That kind of dedication isn’t just found anywhere. Unlike many high school athletes, swimming isn’t just a seasonal sport for Hall and Lehr. It is a lifestyle.

Hall, Lehr take competitive swimming to next level

Evelyn Hall Arthur Lehr

Left: In preparation for an upcoming swim meet, junior Evelyn Hall works on her dive.Bottom: Getting in as much practice as he can, sophomore Arthur Lehr works on his individual medley.

Photos by Kalynn Copenharve

practices for an hour three to four times a week. At dryland practices they do lifting and other out of water exercises. They

bronze, silver and gold. Both Hall and Lehr are on the top team, gold. They have two hour practices five days a week. At these practices, they focus on doing drills to improve their