Celine Liu ’29
Oct 3, 2025
Last Saturday during Family and Alumni Weekend, the Blue Storm swim team held its annual intrasquad Blue/White Meet, an important, formative step for the team to integrate its many new members and build Mercersburg spirit.
“It is certainly valuable anytime they get a chance to race competitively. It is a big part of team-building to prepare for the official start of the season,” said Head Coach Matt Hurst. “Today, the effort and energy were great, and they know each other’s names, as silly as that sounds, and they were legitimately cheering for their future teammates. There’s a healthy respect there.”
“With the new students, we’ve focused on a lot of team-bonding activities in preseason—both in and out of the pool,” said Sophie Koroma ‘26. “We played different land sports, [there was] cheering, banner-making, some trivia and brain teasers… so we know our teams when it comes down to the meet…. We tally points throughout the course of the three weeks and ultimately have a winner.”
Hurst sees this meet as an ideal starting point for the season overall. He explained, “From a depth perspective, I think we're stronger than we were last year. And from a talent perspective, our younger kids are a year older and more developed. And then again, our older athletes, our postgraduates, add an element of historical competition that is really going to bolster the roster in terms of excitement for our athletes’ performance this year. I think we’re in a good spot.”
Early on in the season, dry land and pool practices have been dedicated to building a great technical foundation. The team has been focusing on developing well-rounded athletes in all four strokes, as later on they will focus on improving the one or two strokes they specialize in for their individual races in championship meets.
The team has been training specific techniques, including underwater kicking. Xiomara Del Roasario ‘26 added, “ [It] accounts for 60 percent of any race. We're allowed to go fifteen meters underwater, so it's a huge component of racing in a 25-yard pool. We train with [Strength] Coach [Brian] Canida in the weight room three to four times a week to make sure we have good fundamental movement patterns, so that over the course of a long season, we can limit or eliminate our injuries due to physical strength.”
Returning swimmers are already demonstrating excitement for the upcoming
competitive season, especially with the school’s hosting of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship this year. Matt Krause ’26 explained, “We finished really well as a program last year [winning] the overall championship at Easterns. We knew we had a strong team coming back, and we’ve had some good additions through admissions and our postgraduate program with the Naval Academy.”
The team now shifts from internal rivalry to external competition. With a reinforced roster and shared commitment to training, Mercersburg’s swimmers are prepared to bring their early-season energy into future successes in the winter.