The Shorewood girls swimming and diving team has had a simple philosophy this fall. Devoid of elite talent, the Thunderbirds have embraced coach Susie McDowell’s motto of “score through the middle.”
“We have a mid-level team, so we’ll probably have a lot of swimmers in in the ‘B’ finals (at Friday’s 3A District 1 meet),” McDowell said. “We’ll score differently than other teams. We won’t win events, but we’ll score from the middle and put up points that way.”
McDowell said Katie Taylor (50-yard freestyle, 100 free), Elle Frederickson (200 free, 500 free), Anna Pitts (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly) and Emily McDowell (100 free and 100 breaststroke) have been the team’s primary point-scorers.
“This is one of the biggest improvement years I’ve seen,” Susie McDowell said. “The girls realized that they could get beat but still swim well. The kids weren’t intimidated (by defeat). They didn’t care who they swam against. They’re just racing as hard as they can.”
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