Niskayuna Swim dominates in "virtual" meets

by Katherine Sumner

The Niskayuna girls’ varsity swim and dive team is starting their season off strong with an undefeated 4-0 record. Although COVID-19 has changed the season drastically, Niskayuna is taking every possible measure to ensure that the team stays safe and healthy throughout the year.

“[COVID has] made us find new and creative ways to [work] as a team,” says head coach Alyssa Seligman. “There’s always been a lot that goes into setting up a swim meet, but there's so much more this year- since we have no spectators, we [are live-streaming all our meets] to make sure parents can be a part of it.”

“Leading the team this year has been difficult, but still so much fun,” adds senior and team captain Alise Hale. “We have had to wear masks whenever we’re out of the water, and have needed to swim on opposite sides of the pool [for social distancing].”

Another new addition this year is “virtual meets”, which were created to decrease possible contact between athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. A virtual meet is conducted almost the same as a normal meet, with one important difference- both teams compete at their own pools, completely separate. Instead of finding out places and scores as soon as the event is done, teams upload their times to a website, which orders the times and scores the meet accordingly. Not all Niskayuna’s meets have been virtual, but multiple teams they have competed against chose to keep their seasons virtual-only.

Originally, Niskayuna’s virtual meet on Thursday was scheduled to be against Bethlehem, but due to the recent outbreak there, all athletics have been shut down until further notice. Thankfully, the Schenectady-Colonie team was able to step in and fill their spot. Even without Schenectady-Colonie there in person, the meet was high-energy and the atmosphere was incredibly supportive. Sophomore Vera Amirbekian started off the meet strong by taking first place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:08.10. Soon after, junior Isabel Nelson won the 50 freestyle with a 26.42, as well as the 100 butterfly with a 1:05.39. Senior Emma Edwards won a close race in the 100 freestyle, finishing in 59.65 seconds. Another senior, team captain Brenna McLaughlin, came in first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:38.94. When both teams had finished racing and the scores were compared, Niskayuna had beaten Schenectady-Colonie 94.5 to 85.5.

“I’m so happy with how our season has gone so far,” says McLaughlin. “We lost a lot of seniors who were huge contributors to our team’s success last year, and it was a little scary going into this season without them, but many of the younger girls on the team have stepped up and continue to improve every meet.”

“I’ve been very pleased [with] how the season has been going,” agrees Hale. “I honestly wasn’t expecting to have a season this year, so the fact that it’s been going so well has been great. The girls have been swimming fast, and we’ve been working harder and harder each week.”

In a regular year, the entire season would be building up to the Sectionals meet, where all the teams in the section race against each other. The traditional Sectionals is canceled this year because of the pandemic, but the team is hoping to continue with a modified end-of-the-year meet. Although logistics are still being worked out, the current plan is for the top two teams of the season to compete (as well as teams three and four, five and six, et cetera) and if the season continues the way it’s been going so far, the top two teams will be Niskayuna and Shenendehowa.

“I really hope that we all stay safe as a school community and are able to finish out our season with the modified Sectionals meet,” says McLaughlin. “All of the girls have been working so hard and I want to see their effort pay off in a championship setting.”

“I think we have the potential to really surprise other local teams with our talent this year,” adds Seligman. “We have a lot of depth. I feel like other teams discredit us, but we’re still going strong.”

The team has a rivalry meet against Shenendehowa this Thursday, November 5th, and their senior night against Guilderland-Voorheesville is November 12th. While spectators aren’t allowed on deck this season because of COVID-19 protocols, both events will be live-streamed and available for anyone to view. Come watch and show your support for Niskayuna!