All about the teamwork - Seymour Tribune

December 18, 2015

For The Tribune

While Alexis Anders enjoys swimming individual events or relays at Seymour, the relays are her favorite because there are three teammates involved in each event.

Anders said her normal events this season will be the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly, and she will swim the breaststroke in the medley relay and also a leg in the 200 free relay.

“The medley relay is probably my favorite event because you get to work with your teammates,” she said. “You really get to be there for them and encourage them while they’re swimming. There is a lot of pressure, but you thrive off the pressure. I get excited for it. Everybody is screaming your name when you’re coming into the wall.”

Anders said she enjoys swimming different events, or off events, some meets.

Individually, her favorite event is the breaststroke.

“The stroke is just easy for me to do, and I try to put more into it,” Ander said. “The fly is very exhausting.”

Her best time in the breaststroke is 1:12.

“I got that time at sectionals last year,” Anders said. “My favorite lane would probably be 3. Three is usually the faster lane, and you get a little extra motivation when you’re in that lane. You have two faster swimmers on either side of you, which is more motivating.

“I want to drop more time in the breaststroke and the fly. I’m under 1:10 in the fly. I do have to think about pacing it out. In short course you have to push the whole thing. The people beside you are going to do it, so you want to make sure you keep up with them.”

In races, Anders said she thinks that endurance plays key to quicker times.

“Some races are just so hard,” Anders said. “The last 25, coming back to the wall your arms are ‘burning,’ your legs are ‘burning,’ but that’s OK. You just think about getting done and going home and going to sleep.”

Anders said her events are spaced out enough so she has adequate recovery time between events, but “some of my teammates don’t have that recovery time, which I feel for them, and that is difficult to do.”

During her sophomore and junior years, Anders ran cross-country.

However, she gave up running to focus on swimming in her final year at Seymour.

“I used (cross-country) as a way to stay in shape for swimming, and a lot of my friends did it,” Anderssaid. “My senior year I decided to just swim because I wanted to save my energy for it.”

The senior started her swimming career at Shields Park as a youth.

“I first started swimming because my mom wanted me to try a sport,” Anders said. “The first time I did it I was seven or eight years old. I was with the minnows, dolphins and sharks. I remember the older kids swimming in the water, and I thought how cool it would be to on that team one day.

Anders said she enjoys the competition, and she enjoys the multi-team meets like the “S” Invitational, conference and sectional.

“When you have more teams it’s more fun,” she said. “You still focus on your events, but there are more people to talk to. I’m so excited for the sectional. It is a big deal.”

Swimming has helped Anders learn to schedule her time.

“It’s kind of hard to get into the routine at first, but it teaches us really good time management,” Anders said. “We have to make sure we get our homework done the night before so we don’t have to stay up super late working on the big assignments.”

Anders credits tough practices for success in meets.

“Some practices we’ll swim a certain amount of yards, and we’ll just focus on our quality of turns or streamlining our strokes,” Anders said. “Even the smallest mistake in a meet will hurt your time. You have to be prepared in case they say ‘please stand’ when you’re on the blocks.

“We have morning practices on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mondays is weights for girls, Wednesdays is P90X, which is a video workout we watch and then we do core and pushups. It is a little bit harder to get back into it on Mondays.”

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Q: What’s it like swimming in a meet at the Seymour High School pool?

A: “I really like them, and I like when my friends come and support us. I’ll remember last year during senior night when we had a huge crowd. I’m hoping to see that this year. I want our team to do really well in the sectional. I know we can drop a lot of time.”

Q: Where is your favorite away pool?

A: “I really like Floyd (Central) except the water is so cold. It makes your muscles so tight that it’s harder to swim. Closer to sectionals, Coach (Dave) Boggs will turn our water temperature down and turn some of the lights off in our pool because their pool is really dark.”

Q: Have you enjoyed your time at SHS?

A: “It’s been the greatest years of school for me. I wasn’t crazy about middle school. I’ve met so many great people, made true friends I’m going to miss it next year. I’ve taken a lot of AP courses. It’s been smooth sailing.”

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Parents: Tracey Brown, Chris Anders

Sibling: Kennedi, Neil

Sports: Swimming, four years; cross-country, two years

Organizations: Choir, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 4H, Owlragious radio show

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