As a member of the swim team at Magnet for the past three years and this year being the fourth, I know that we have the MOST fun. Some highlights from being on the team my whole high school experience include, but are not limited to: the bus ride to Columbia for State Meet freshman and sophomore year, the obsession with energy drinks on the boys team, carpooling all over Charleston to get to meets on time (but always still being late), someone getting attacked by a squirrel at a meet, going to eat at Jimmy Johns before meets, and the united struggle to survive Cooney’s dryland. 

Aside from all the amazing memories I have made on this team, I am going to give you an introduction to the team and our captains. The team is led by myself, Lilly Claypoole, Sarah Burnette, Phoebe Covode, Genevieve Geils, Lauren Nadeau, Bowen Enright, Andrew Nichols, Kyle Hurtwig and Caleb Anderson. As said by my dear friend and fellow team captain, Phoebe Covode, “The environment is super fun and the people are super cool and I’m excited for the rest of the season!” which is quite the riveting take on the team. 

Our season is fairly short given that the state meet is in early October, so it is not a huge commitment which makes it a perfect fall sport for anyone to join. There are no tryouts to be on the team and everyone is able to swim at the meets which makes it extremely inclusive, thus eliminating the stress of wondering whether or not you will make the team! We typically have around two meets a week and practice the majority of the other days other than Sunday (yes, those Saturday mornings are pretty rough). Here are some pictures of the team in action because that is more fun than reading about it anyway.

Even if you do not know the first thing about swimming, do not let that stop you from joining this amazing team before it’s too late because it will reward you with the best memories. I promise you that you will not regret being on this team because even though it is corny to say, it has literally become a family to me.

Give @raptorswim a follow on instagram to get more of a feel for the energy of the team 🙂 Hope you will consider joining in the coming years!