Girls swim and dive team breaks dual meet record

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Grace Donner

Margret Eisenbrandt swims her way to victory.

Screaming, cheering and the splashing of water; that is what it sounded like when the girls swim and dive team tied the record for most dual meets won in a row.

The team has had a streak since 2003 and on Sept. 10 they reached a total of 124 dual meets won in a row. Which tied the previous record set by the current coach’s father. The team typically competes in around 18 meets per year, roughly eight of those are considered dual meets. A dual meet is one in which one team goes head to head with only one other team.

The current season has been running for five weeks already. The team has worked really hard every day to get to this point, even if they didn’t realize how well they were doing.

Senior captain Margret Eisenbrandt talked a little about their hard work, “It was really exciting, it was nice that we got confirmation that our hard work paid off.”

Brian Luke, coach of the swim team said,” We were just kind of running up and the newspaper mentioned we were at like 91 or 92 wins, I didn’t event notice. Then we reached our 100th win and now we have just been creeping up. And my dad mentioned it when we got to 90, he said ‘Ah maybe you could try and make it.'”

The team’s coach, Luke puts in a lot of effort towards this team whether it is helping the athletes improve their time by getting stronger or helping them achieve the correct mindset to help them win. He works really hard to get good results from the swimmers.

Eisenbrandt said, “He kind of holds us responsible but not in a bad way. We know what he expects of us and when we don’t necessarily live up to his expectations, we know, and that pushes us to improve.”

The team appreciates their achievement greatly but looks at it as more than just another award.

Eisenbrandt said, “I think it means a lot to Coach Luke because it’s something he has been doing for a really long time and he just puts a lot into the team and I think it will mean a lot to us too because we are helping him achieve this record.”

The previous record is held by the Hopkins team under Coach Elmer Luke who happens to be the father of Coach Brian Luke from Stillwater. As a high school swimmer Luke was coached by his dad at Hopkins which took part in influencing him to become a coach when he grew up. Now Luke is achieving the same greatness as his father did, all with his dad by his side. Former Coach Elmer Luke attends every Stillwater meet and some of the practices to watch the swimmers improve and keep his family legacy alive.

Junior diver Madeline Gilbert was asked how the relationship takes part in what this record means to the team and she said, “It will mean a lot to break this record, it will be a pony legacy. And the fact that it’s Mr.Luke’s dad who set the record first and now its his son who is breaking it is very exciting.”

“It will definitely be a lot more intense and we will all be expected to perform very well but also it will be really exciting and I think there will be a lot of adrenaline pumping,” Eisenbrandt said.