The Lakeland-West Milford 2024-25 swim season has finished, and while the season might be over, the records broken and the bonds made have strengthened the team more than ever before.
According to NJ.com, the boys had a record of 4-6 and the girls had a record of 8-2. This season, improvements were staggering, as a result of team-wide efforts to improve their performance from last year to be even better. With these efforts, the boys improved a lot, winning 40% of their matches this season, where last season they won 25%. The girls have also seen an incredible upgrade to their performance. They won 80% of their matches this season, where last year they won 50%. Junior Antimo Ferretti said, “This season went great, [it was our] best season to date.”
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The team’s improvements are in part to their incredible coach, Ms. Patricia Kebrdle, who described the team as “very positive and very supportive.”
Because of the team’s incredible performance and dedication, they won some incredible meets. The girls won in a blowout victory in their first meet against Clifton (133-29), and another amazing win against Passaic (131-31). The boys have also had some amazing wins like their nail-biting win against Pequannock (95-70), and their win against Paramus Catholic (101-44).
(LRHS)
Although the struggle to find swimmers to fill lanes continued this year, the swim team persevered and has created many bonds that flow through the team. Swimmer Wren Haskins, junior, said, “I feel like we were a lot closer and more supportive of each other [this season].” Senior Kasey Killian echoed this saying, “I was able to get a lot closer with people I [had] never met or haven’t had the chance to talk with. It was definitely a positive and supportive environment.”
The team’s strong bonds helped them throughout the season and led to both the boys and girls teams breaking many personal and school records. In particular sophomore Nate Schouten has broken school records in the 100 breaststroke, and the 200 free. Schouten has broken many records throughout his time on the swim team and now has all of the records on the boys team. The LRHS community congratulates him on his record breaking achievements.
The Lakeland-West Milford Swim Team has had an impeccable season that was filled with fun times, incredible accomplishments and outstanding dedication. Their accomplishments this season are outstanding and are a testament to their incredible effort both in and out of the pool.
