The KSC Women’s Swim and Dive team is one of the most decorated teams at Keene State. With 20 Little East Conference (LEC) championships, the team strives to uphold its championship culture each year. This year was nothing short of a success.
After winning 16 straight LEC championships, women’s swim and dive fell short last year. This completely changed the mindset of the team this year. Fifth-year Amanda Davies described the year as “special” and added that the team “went in with a chip on our shoulders.” Most of the athletes did not expect to win again this year.
“On paper, it didn’t look that good for us,” said Coach Chris Woolridge. Midway through the season, this changed.
On January 11, the team faced off in a duel against reigning LEC Champions, Eastern Connecticut. “We won against Eastern [Connecticut], and that’s when it clicked for everyone,” said senior Mia Destefani. “The vibe kind of changed,” she added. The team proceeded to win three of four meets leading into the LEC Championship meet.
As Davies said, this team was special. Every athlete that was interviewed mentioned the connection the team had. Senior Adessa Noyes said she met some of her closest friends through the team during her career. However, her best friend graduated last year. “We had lost a really good amount of seniors last year, which impacted us. I think it hurt us a little bit. Being a senior, I was able to help and step up. That was also a great feeling that people can look to you as that person they can talk to.”
Noyes said she wanted to create the same environment that she had early in her career for the underclassmen. First-year Ayla Pullen said, “Everybody is so supportive, not only of each other, but of other teams as well. Some teams see it as strictly competition; we see it as so much more than that.”
Another way the team was unique was that there was no “star” swimmer. Every swimmer contributed in each meet. Davies explained, “The only way we could win this year was as a team.”
“Every single girl made it to finals, scored points, and mattered,” said Destefani.
Woolridge mentioned, “There are quite a few [athletes] that developed really well.” Woolridge highlighted Pullen: “Ayla has developed all through the year. To come from being a solid diver to breaking a record, Pullen had an impressive rookie season.”
Pullen dove at the one-meter and three-meter marks. On February 13 at the LEC Championships, Pullen scored a new school record of 397.5 on the three-meter eleven dive.
“It was really cool because the record hasn’t been broken in a while,” Pullen said. “All that hard work finally paying off was just a really cool feeling.” The record was previously set in 2012 with a score of 340.85 by Kelly Gilmore.
Each athlete praised their family for their support throughout the season and their career. Destefani had an special story. Destefani’s dad became sick in her sophomore year. Destefani said she decided she needed to take a break from swimming and ended up transferring to Keene State for her junior and senior seasons. She said not only was her dad a motivation for her, but breaststroke coach David Graham was monumental in her success in the pool. As one of three swimmers competing in breaststroke, Destefani spent a lot of time with Graham.
“[Graham] changed my whole perspective on the stroke,” said Destefani. Following her final race, she instantly ran to Graham’s arms and cried. “To be able to finish that way and tell Coach David that it was his work that made me finish that race was special.” Destanfi added that her time at KSC was dedicated to her dad.
The team concluded their season with a LEC Championship. Davies “didn’t want to leave losing,” and “wanted to finish out [her] career with a team win.” Destefani added, “Going out as a senior and winning is just a feeling no one will ever get rid of.” As mentioned above, every athlete did their job. With only one event scoring in the top three, each swimmer and diver scored valuable points throughout the event and put together a win. Noyes said she believes “the swim team, especially the girls, are not appreciated enough.” Noyes said she is hopeful the win “turns the heads of people, and they will be like, ‘Hey, they just won 20 times.’”
Carson Flake can be contacted at
cflake@kscequinox.com
