On Tuesday, the Newman swim team took the road to Sulphur, LA for the state championships. We arrived with the skill and determination we had worked hard for in practice all season, and we were ready to win.

For dinner that evening in Sulfur, the swimmers kept on their tradition of eating food from the iconic Italian place, Joe’s. We also celebrated Pierce Thionville’s birthday with cookie cake. The team split up into hotel rooms for the night and discreetly delivered motivating posters to their secret swimmers and (as opposed to secret Santa, of course).

The next morning, the team worked hard at State prelims. Unfortunately, there were a few disqualifications in some events. The captains and Coach Kristi gave insight and got the team mentally prepared to give it their all for the finals. We dined at Joe’s one final time and then exchanged presents from secret swimmers.

Thursday morning, we pumped ourselves up for one final push of the season. Our speaker played our favorite songs all the way until warm ups. The Greenies cheered and chanted, showing our true pride and motivation. Our vote is that we pump ourselves up together as a team more than the cheerleaders ever could. We got ready to go and gave it our all.

Newman’s Girls and Boys Swim Teams won championship victories at the State meet in Sulphur, making the total State Championships for Newman 100.

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Out of celebration, we chanted popular Greenie cheers that echoed in the pool. The team always felt close, but this moment of pride brought us together even tighter. This was the moment the team craved the entire season.
There were many great personal achievements that boosted the score of the team: Pierce Thionville ’21, Christian Johnson ’23, and Ross Jacobson ’20 were 1st through 3rd in Boys 500 Freestyle event, and Thionville, Johnson, and James Nguyen ’21 were also on the top of the board for 100 backstroke. Pepijn Kuiper ’21 won runner-up in 200 free. Pierce Thionville not only won both his events, but broke the oldest Newman record in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 4:35.21 (and only missed another Newman record – for 100 backstroke – by 0.01). Katherine Kramer won the 200 Freestyle and was runner-up in the 500 Free.

A strong amount of points come from the relays, where swimmers are most dependent on each other. The boys 200 medley and 400 free placed first, and their 200 free (E. Kuiper, Passler, Lee, and P. Kuiper) placed second. The girls 200 free (Jiao, Dondis, Nguyen, and Palmer) placed first, 200 medley placed second, and 400 free (Kramer, Palmer Duggal, and Moffet) placed third.

For the swim team, this marks the 13th state title for boys and 16th for state. As a sport, swimming has won a significant amount of championships, and collectively more than the other teams at Newman.

On Friday, the swimmers were recognized on the football field at halftime of the home playoff game for achieving the 99th and 100th state championships for Newman.

Recognition is also due for the parents of the swimmers, for supporting the team and helping out with everything from shoving swimmers into their super-tight-state-tech-suits to bringing food to motivating anxious swimmers, these Newman parents deserve a big thanks. None of this would be possible without the effort of the entire team of parents, coaches, and swimmers.