After a few-week setback, the St. Louis U High swim and dive team finally returned to competition in the pool—and in a big way. SLUH kicked off the season with a decisive 132-53 victory vs. CBC on Sept. 15, and followed that up with another win vs. De Smet, 138-37, on Sept. 18.
             “The dual meets aren’t too intense, but it’s a great opportunity to finally race and swim after several weeks of practice,” said head coach Lindsey Ehret.
The swim team had a whopping eight state qualifying times vs. CBC, and added three more qualifying times vs. De Smet.
“It’s a great starting point for me this season,” said junior Jonas Hostetler, who earned a state qualifying time in the 100-yard butterfly and helped the 200 freestyle, 200 medley, and 400 freestyle relay qualify as well. “I look forward to watching myself better those times and watching our team continue to succeed.”
Senior Eli Butters picked up where he left off last season, earning state qualifying times in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle events. He was also part of the 200 freestyle, 200 medley, and 400 freestyle relays that earned state qualifying times.
“It’s really a blessing that after these past few years I’ve had to worry less and less about my times after putting it in all the work to get faster,” Butters said. “My sophomore year I really struggled to just scrape by and get two state cuts at the end of the season, so I never imagined that I would come this far to attain those times much earlier.”
Junior Cooper Scharff earned two state qualifying times as well, placing first in the 100 backstroke and the 200 individual medley. He was also a member of the 200 medley relay that qualified.
The JV team also had the opportunity to race for the first time this year on Sept. 26.
 “They did pretty well,” Ehret said. “The key word for us is experience—giving the kids the experience of racing and then working from there to chip away at times is really important for us.”’
On the diving end, junior Sebastian Lawrence qualified for state with his first place dives.
The swim and dive team will now prepare for a competitive quad-meet on Oct. 3, featuring CBC, MICDS, and Kirkwood.
“Kirkwood will be some of our best, legit competition this year,” Ehret said.
After Oct. 3, the team will continue competing in dual meets. As of now, Ehret has not heard much about the future regarding a potential state meet and the chance to win state three years in a row.
“We have been putting in a lot of hours these past few weeks, even practicing late on Fridays when I know a lot of us would rather be out having fun,” Butters said. “We’ve sacrificed tons of time, and I think that is going to really pay off this weekend.”
“With the lack of meets, it is going to get more important to get guys qualified for state, and that’s what we’re looking forward to this weekend,” Ehret said.

art | Nathan Rich