Author:	Ali Brandt
	Grade:	Junior
	School:	Wentachee
	Mascot:	Panthers
	League:	Big Nine
	Classification:	4A

Wenatchee High School Girls Swimming and Diving: Building Excellence

Wenatchee High School is home of the Panthers, housing approximately 2,100 students and is in the 4A classification. In the 2013 fall sports season, Wenatchee High School sent all the participating fall sports to the State Championship events.  Out of all the fall sport teams, the girls swim and dive team placed the highest earning second.

The girls swim and dive team has dominated the Big 9 League for years. They have won 9 out of the last 11 districts and finished in the top 10 at state 6 out of the last 9 years. Their success results from the amount of time and hard work they put into practice. In addition to typical after school swim and dive practices, the team does several 5:30 a.m. practices and dry land practices each week as well. The morning practices include videotaping and working on starts, turns, and cardio. Dry land practices encompass strength, flexibility, and endurance. The extra time the athletes put in at the pool pays off and helps them to achieve better times and scores at Districts and State.

Our cross-river rival is the Eastmont High School Wildcats of East Wenatchee. Every season each sport participates in a "Battle of the Bridges" showdown against Eastmont. The winner of this battle gets bragging rights for the year. Typically this event is well attended by parents, students, and other athletes. This year's friendly rivalry meet took place at Wenatchee High School in late October.

This year “Battle of the Bridges” happened to also be our breast cancer awareness meet. Our fans come dressed in pink to show their support. Our swimmers wear pink swim caps and pink ribbon tattoos. The team also brings in baked goods to sell to raise money to donate to breast cancer awareness.

The start of the meet begins with each team doing their individual cheers. Then the teams come together in the pool to do the Valley Pride Cheer

When I say Go you say Fight
Go! Fight!
Go! Fight!
When I say Win you say Tonight
Win! Tonight!
Win! Tonight!
When I say Valley you say Pride
Valley! Pride!
Valley! Pride!
When I say All you say Right
All! Right!
All! Right!
Go! Fight! Win! Tonight! Valley! Pride! All! Right!
Go! Fight! Win! Tonight! Valley! Pride! All! Right!

The teams show great sportsmanship to each other by cheering for each other and congratulating each other after their races. This rivalry brings out the best of each athlete because they want to represent their school well. This year Wenatchee came out victorious with the score of 145-41.

With this win, the Wenatchee Panthers girls swim and dive team became the undefeated Big 9 League Champions for the second year in a row. All the hard work in the last two months has paid off. We are looking forward to continuing our success at the district and state meet in the next couple of weeks.