At the break of dawn, members of the Mounds View Girls Swim & Dive team wake up long before other students. It is 6 a.m. and they make their way to practice at Edgewood Middle School. The pool is cold as the girls hover around the edge. They collect themselves as they know they have to plunge into the freezing water for practice to fully start. “‘It’s 6:30, let’s get in the pool,’” said senior captain Hannah Song, quoting her coach. One by one, the girls jump in, and morning practice officially begins.

For the members of the Mounds View Girls Swim & Dive team, morning practices have become a new addition to their training schedule. The swimmers have a quick 15- to 20-minute warmup before hopping into the pool and starting their main set. The coaches split the main sets for the swimmers so that each swimmer can practice both of their specialties — their primary stroke and secondary stroke.  

In the past, the team had morning practices in the summer only, but this year, the coaches decided to extend morning practices into the school year twice per week. “This year, we made the decision to continue that during the school year… in the past, when we’ve done them, they’ve been optional, but [we have] made them a required morning practice,” said Rachael Ostrom, swim coach.

This practice usually lasts about an hour, and then the girls transition from practice to school. The team seems to have adjusted to this transition already. “You would think that I’d feel really tired the whole day, but if anything, waking up that early and doing a workout when people are sleeping and then getting ready in the locker room and then heading to school, it makes everyone feel productive,” said Song.

The team’s training has been reformed this year with a focus on increasing intensity and conditioning and improving technique. The addition of the mandatory morning practices at Edgewood Middle School and increased practice time after school have benefited all swimmers, but especially the rookie group. “Our rookie group this year is incredible. They came in very strong… 20% of our team is rookies,” said Ostrom. 

This new schedule gives the rookies more time to build on their basic techniques while also building a stronger foundation for the future. These practices have also been helping the swimmers build confidence, which has made the team stronger as a whole. “What we have seen this year is better technique for the girls in their swims. Also we have seen them getting stronger times earlier in the season than we’ve seen in past years,” said Ostrom.

One reason the coaches increased the training rigor is because during last year’s season, they had  several disappointingly close matches with rival schools. “We had three meets that were very close–Woodbury, Creighton and Roseville– where we came up short, and we ended up losing all three of those meets last year, and for the coaches and for the girls on the team, we wanted to come in strong this year and try to win some of those close meets,” said Ostrom. 

These effects of the new training schedule have been seen in positive results at recent meets. They won against teams that they have struggled against in the past, such as their victory against Woodbury in their dual meet, and their overall record this season is 7-2, which is the best in the past five years. These recent wins have allowed them to compete at True Team State this year. The athletes have also noticed the results, and knowing that they are improving is directly contributing to boosting their confidence. “I’m faster, and I bet that goes for everybody on the team because there’s no way you’re in the water that much and you don’t get faster,” said senior captain Olivia Landberg.

The swimmers are not the only ones who are excited with this success, as the coaches also seem to be enjoying how far the girls have come this season. “The coaching staff [have] been really happy with the success and how the team has done this year, mostly because [the swimmers], they’re excited. They’re excited when they get good times. They’re excited when we win those close meets, and that’s been really fun to see,” said Ostrom.