Polson High School Swim Team

By Hope Morrison and August Hertz (Featured in PHS's Salishian )  Only its third year in existence, the Polson High School swim team has brought home their first State title. They earned second place for the boy’s team overall, multiple individual state titles, and “a whole lot of hardware,” saidhead coach Morgan Zimmer. Twenty-six medals were brought home by individual events and relays. To qualify for State, swimmers must rank sixteenth or better in any individual event over the course of the season. Multiple swimmers, including freshmen Grace Olson, Truman Sawyer, and Teague McElwee, sophomore Lachlan Sloan, junior August Hertz, and seniors Hope Mor- rison and Aspen McKee held positions top ten or better across multiple events. The Polson boys 400-yard freestyle relay even had the number one time going into State. All twelve members of the team qualified for State this year, making it the team’s most successful year so far. Polson’s impact on the competition is no new feat. In p...

  Hope Morrison dives in over Grace Olson, in the prelims of the 400 Free Relay.  This essay was written for the Ken Rohenbach Scholarship led by the job service, and the writer received $2,000 to attend the University of Montana. By Hope Morrison, alumnus of Polson High School and its swim team.  I watched our opportunity just slip away. Standing behind the block, screaming for my teammate to swim harder, my heart dropped to my stomach watching my relay lose the lead. After years and years of dedication to swimming, I was at the most critical and final meet of the season, watching my last event of the day, about to swim the final length of the girl’s 400 freestyle relay.  “You have to catch up, Hope, you’ve gotta! Sink or Swim Hope! Sink or-” screamed Aspen right as I dove off into the water. “Sink or Swim” had become our relay’s motto I came up with, meaning “All or Nothing”, that you had no choice but to give it everything you got, but for this upcoming race, I ...