On Nov. 12, Kennedy Girls’ Swimming and Diving placed ninth at the state meet with 101 points. Multiple swimmers made it to the podium and the Kennedy Swim Team finished higher than they have in 15 years.

Kennedy had two races that placed on the podium. Junior Maria Trotta placed third overall in the 50 Yard Freestyle and the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay consisting of Trotta, freshman Lilly Anctil, sophomore Lilly Adams and junior Ellie Hance placed fifth with a time of 1:39.15.

“I’m definitely happy with how I performed individually and with how our team performed,” Hance said. “I think it took a little while for our team to figure out how to race collectively rather than as individuals. The second that we figured out how to do that we improved tremendously.”

Kennedy’s other notable relay was the 200 Yard Medley Relay which placed tenth with a time of 1:50.60. The relay had Hance swimming backstroke, senior captain Casey Gannon in the breaststroke, Trotta swimming the butterfly leg and Anctil anchoring in freestyle.

Trotta placed ninth in her second event, the 100 Yard Freestyle, with a time of 54.08 seconds. Hance swam the event with her, placing 11th at 54.78 seconds. Adams, the third finals swimmer, competed two events—the 200 Yard Individual Medley and the 100 Yard Backstroke, placing 15th and 14th respectively. See expected times and placements here.

“At the beginning of the season the team wasn’t always the most positive,” Hance said. “But over the past three weeks we’ve all tried to look at things with a glass-half-full perspective and I think that it showed in our swims today.”

The team is happy with their placement. One of their season goals was to place in the top ten at state.

“What an amazing accomplishment for these swimmers and divers,” Varsity Coach Chad Derlein said. “[The] last two years we placed 10th and this year we are 9th. Beyond ecstatic to coach such an amazing group of kids.”