Championships offer a place for athletes to test their skills with all-time high steaks. This year, every swimmer on the Upper Perkiomen High School team will be able to participate in a large regional championship.
The Pioneer Athletic Conference, or PACs, is a high school athletic championship that involves twelve schools in southeastern Pennsylvania. This year, the Upper Perkiomen swim team has their Girls’ PACs championship on February 7th and Boys’ on the 8th.
Unlike most years, the Upper Perkiomen swim team will bring all of their swimmers because this year two events are open to everyone. These two events are the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle. Athletes may also participate in relay events.
Other Upper Perkiomen swimmers will be swimming events they qualify for. For example, Katherine Kovalanko, a junior swimmer, qualified for several events, including the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, and 100-yard breaststroke.
As of her interview, Katie did not know the specific events she would swim on the day of PACs, but she told the Walt Street Journal, “My main goals for PACs are for our 200 medley relay to rebreak our record we broke last year at states.”
Magdalen Izzi, a junior swimmer, also told the WSJ, “I’m excited that the whole team is going to PACs this year and swim relays with everyone.”
Regardless, the team’s traditions for championships remain the same. Annually, the boys bleach and eventually buzz their hair before PACs. Although this is a team ritual the boys have had for years, it is a fairly new tradition for the girls.
This year, Magdalen Izzi hosted hair-dying at her house after an away meet on Thursday, January 30th. The teammates dyed their hair shades of pink, blue, and purple in the spirit of the championship.
Leighton Keith, a sophomore swimmer, told the Walt Street Journal that the team hair dying was a “fun team bonding time before pacs and strengthened [the team’s] bond.”
The boy’s bleached their hair at the same time but in a different location. On Tuesday, February 4th, they buzzed their hair after practice in the locker room.
PACs mark the beginning of the postseason championship, with several swimmers going on to compete at districts and state championships. Reflecting on the season, Beatriz Santos, a junior swimmer and current 100-yard backstroke record holder, told the WSJ that “the season was definitely very successful. There were lots of personal bests for everyone, and the team’s spirit kept me motivated. I love being able to say that my teammates are also my closest friends.”
On Friday, February 7th, the girls’ team will leave school at 2:00 pm for their championship. The meet begins at 6 p.m. at Upper Merion High School, and on Saturday, the boys’ meet begins at 10:00 am.
