An Inside Look of the Dunlap Eagle's Swim Team!

The Dunlap Eagle's swim team has had a great season this year. It could be known as the best one they have had in years. Swim has not been very popular throughout the Dunlap community but it must be recognized. The team is led by some amazing seniors that have been swimming together since they first started. Sophia Spolidorio, Jaycee Weeks, Hadley Dornan, Tatum Hussey, and Annie Pollard have made a major impact on the Eagle's success.

The Lady Eagle's swim team could be one of the better sports here at Dunlap. They are currently undefeated. They have also won conference and sectionals 7 years in a row. SEVEN. YEARS! This is absolutely outstanding and the girls have worked very hard for this achievement. The Lady Eagles went to United Township High School this past weekend to compete in the Sectionals swim meet. Yes, they won again but they also did much more than that. They qualified to take 7 girls to the State meet, usually they only qualify to take 1, and dropped many of their event times.

Sectionals Recap:

The Lady Eagles have recently been close in competition with Moline High School but finished above them in the Sectionals meet. Dunlap was ranked first with 296 points, Moline second with 244.5, and Morrison third with 167. They competed in 8 events and 3 relays. They finished with the right times to take 3 events and all the relays to state. The events include: 200 yard Medley Relay, 200 yard Free Relay, 400 yard Free Relay, 200 yard Free, 200 yard Individual Medley, and the 100 yard Backstroke.

Dunlap finished first in all three of the relays with Moline High School right on their tails. The Lady Eagles finished with 1:52.14 dropping 5.01 seconds in the 200 yard Medley Relay. For the 200 yard Free Relay, they ended with 1:41.08 dropping 2.77 seconds. Lastly, they got 3:38.21 on the 400 yard Free Relay and dropped 7.82 seconds.

Sophia Spolidorio swam the 200 yard Free to finished second with a time of 1:54.81 and she dropped 4.86 seconds. Anna Bowers also finished fourth with 2:00.05 in this event, dropping 2.04 seconds. Taylor Weaver and Kelly Ryan competed in the 200 yard Individual Medley with great times. Weaver finished first with 2:10.86 dropping 5.36 seconds and Ryan finished fifth with 2:20.35 dropping 3.53 seconds. Weaver also finished first in the 100 yard Backstroke with a time of 58.85 seconds and dropped 4 seconds.

Individual Successes:

Sophia Spolidorio (Sr.)

Spolidorio has been a big part of the Dunlap Eagle's swim team and great leader for everyone. She plans to swim at Davenport University next year. Spolidorio has always swam in the 200 yard Freestyle but began swimming distance practices this year. She believes this is what made her get a better time. This year, Spolidorio ended with 1:54.81, 3 seconds better than the previous year.

Taylor Weaver (Jr.)

Being known as one of the nicer girls on the team, Weaver gets pretty serious in the pool. She never skips a yard in practice and calls out people who do. This year she suffered from scoliosis and had to sit out for a lot of the practices. This didn't stop her. She won the 200 Individual Medley at Sectionals with a time of 2:10.86 and set a new personal record for her Backstroke event. Taylor has set big goals for her senior year and plans on achieving them through hard work and dedication.

Though Dunlap has had many victories, they surely deserve it. The amount of time and hard work these girls put into swim is incredible. They practice 9 times a week and 3 of those are at 5:30 in the morning. Some weeks they would practice for 16 hours total. Not only are they in the pool but also in the weight room, which is a very important part of their success. It has been a memorable year for the Lady Eagles and I wish them the best of luck as they travel to New Trier High School for the State swim meet!