By Lindsey Mauller on November 18, 2022
The title “Cats on Three” can often be heard at swim meets to hype up the members. In 2016 Heather England founded the Bearcat swim team. It just so happens that Heather is also the head coach of the swim team, and Luke Ulizzi is the assistant coach. The person who takes the pictures to post online is Robert Angus.
The team goes all the way to Philippi at Alderson Broaddus University, and they practice four times a week. They have meets almost every Saturday. Last night, November 16, 2022, was the first meet. Many people on the team placed first, and they broke three school records. One of the records being the 500 free, and it was done in 6:21 beating the school record by 23 seconds by Katie Novisky. Katie swam also beat the 200 free record by 3 seconds with a time of 2:21. The next record was beaten was by Will Angus, and he beat the 50 free by .20 seconds. Both girl's relays came in first. The students who made up the medley relay team were Bella Lemon, Caroline Stead, Katie Novisky, and Bethany Lipsomb. The second relay team was made up of Bella Lemon, Jordan Niggemyer, Bella Upton, and Katie Novisky. The girls ended up beating RCB, and the boys beat Liberty. The first place finishes were Bella Lemon in the 100 free and 50 free, Katie Novisky in 200 and 500. Will Angus came in second, in both the 50 free and 100 back. One of their newest members, Johnathan Maier, got third place in 50 free and second place in 100 free.
When Bella Lemon was asked about the dynamics of the group, she said, “It’s a tightknit group, and they are very welcoming.” I also asked Bella about how she felt about her first meet. She said, “Nervous and excited. I was swimming the main events I had last year, so expectations were high, but I was used to it." The swim teams next event is this Saturday, November 19, 2022.
