The Crusader swimmers have been putting in a ton of hard work this season, and it all showed with their success at the Fort Zumwalt North Invitational—an annual swim meet between eight schools across the St. Louis area.

This is the only invitational of the season, and is, therefore, an awesome way for schools in the area to see how they fare against the competition. This year St. Dominic placed sixth overall with several individual placements as well.

“This year I placed third in the 100 back, which was a huge accomplishment for me as that’s one of my hardest events,” junior Caroline Cunningham said.

Cunningham and three of her other teammates, sophomore Sydney Picket, senior Ava Kannady and senior Kallie Nero also placed second in the 400 free relay— the event they went to state for last season. Another relay team consisting of seniors Claire Sullivan, Kelly Henderson, Kate Ryan, and Ava Kannady got fourth in the 200 free relay.

Besides just placing well, there were a lot of personal achievements conquered during the invitational.

“I ended up cutting time on my 100 free and getting third in my heat which I was super proud of,” junior Alli Herbert said.

Herbert, like many of the other swimmers, achieved personal bests at the meet. Sisters Claire and Caroline Cunningham both helped the team’s success with new personal records. This allowed for a higher placement and more points in the meet.

While the entire team is working its tail off in the pool, all of these new achievements and successes couldn’t have happened without the support of the team’s new coach, Carly Honerkamp.

Even though Coach Honerkamp is a new swim team coach, she has always come in with confidence, pushing the team this year. With her positive attitude and mindful approach to coaching, it’s no surprise that the team is doing as well as they are. The practice before invitational was spent doing yoga, stretching, and preparing for the meet.

“I was really glad we did yoga on Friday because I felt stretched out for Saturday, and I wasn’t stressed about it,” senior Claire Sullivan said.

So far this season has pushed this team to better themselves and work harder than ever before. Invitational was a great way for the team to test their competitive abilities and have fun. The Fort Zumwalt North Invitational was certainly a success for the St. Dominic swim team, and we can’t wait to see how they do the rest of the season.