The University of Idaho Argonaut

Saturday morning marks the end of the beginning in the new era of Vandal swimming.
It marks the final home meet for the Vandal swim team. Eight seniors and I, who embarked on a journey as freshmen with a brand new team and coaches four years ago, will walk out of our tunnel as we have hundreds of times before and race in our pool for the final time in our career.

As both the oldest child in my family and a part of this Vandal family, I know about legacy and obligations. It is often the job of those who come first to be the role models and leaders, in both passion and hard work, for those who follow. On this team I believe we have all met our responsibility head on. From day one, we each have understood our positive actions as individuals shape our team — our family. We have surpassed our highest expectations. 
Each practice and each meet brought something new for us to accomplish and ultimately laugh about later. We spent countless hours swimming back and forth on that black line on the bottom of the pool, immeasurable hours on the pool deck and in our locker room — both our new one and the one we burnt down last year. And debatably spent too much time together outside the pool walls’ developing the team into what we believe encompasses the honesty, punctuality and respect that are the integrity of Vandal swimming.

There are few days over the last four years that the pool and my teammates were not a bright spot in my day — a family I could count on to help and guide me. But like siblings, we have fought and we’d make up.
We’ve laughed and we’ve cried, which I’m sure is something Tom, our coach, still doesn’t know how to expressly react to. We cooperate under one common goal. This is one of the strongest advantages of our group.
We understand that there is time to be selfish, but at the end of the day you care equally, if not sometimes more, about how the person next to you is doing or feeling because together you are stronger. We have taken the good and the bad over the last four years and luckily spent a great deal of our time laughing. We have relished the time we have spent together and getting to know each other while also better understanding ourselves.

We started young and raw but have been educated, grown and equipped to pass along our message.
We were the smallest team at the Big West Championships our first season, but arguably made the biggest splash. Now the team is in the Western Athletic Conference, bringing something different, exciting and new each time we visit San Antonio.
The last four years have involved the hardest work of my life, but have also been the most gratifying. There wasn’t an action that I took that I didn’t contemplate the reaction in terms of swimming, and although I made my fair share of screw-ups and bonehead moves, there isn’t one minute I would change or trade.

All the 50’s no breath, the pain and the Saturday mornings were all worth it because this team has been the most influential thing in my life. I know that what I value in my life today would not be possible without Vandal swimming; I would not be where I am today without it. The team instilled in me the necessary tools to go out and make my goals a reality. My dreams and ambitions were strengthened by this team which will make their realization even more rewarding.
I have learned and experienced more fulfillment in the last four years than I thought was possible in a program. At the end of this year we nine seniors will go into the world with the education, advice from our coaches and lessons we have learned from each other and even our younger teammates throughout our years.
Tomorrow will be a morning each of us has been anticipating since our first year as Vandals, but one that none of us thought would actually be realized. We’ve got one more lesson to teach — how to genuinely finish what you start.