By Monroe Torkelson
Reporter
Seth Koivisto is a senior on the PLU swimming team. His favorite event to swim is the 100 meters breaststroke, but he also enjoys sprint freestyle for relays. Koivisto has been a member of the swim team for four years and has helped to break two relay records for the school.
While certain events in swimming, like the 100 meter breaststroke, are quite individual, the team plays a huge role overall. The final score of the team is the sum of all of the points that were awarded for each of the events, meaning that “you could win all of your individual events and lose the meet in a blowout, which has happened before. It makes everybody’s contributions super important, regardless of what place you get individually,” Koivisto said.
This year, while noticeably different due to COVID, offers some prospects on the team. “We have a couple rock-star women coming in, and all of the freshmen on both squads have a ton of potential. We also only graduated one senior on the guys side, so I’m really excited to see what this team can accomplish this year.” As of right now, there aren’t any meets happening until January 1st, at the earliest. That may change, however, because COVID rates are always changing. Hopefully we will be able to see our swimmers competing at some point next semester.
Meets are not the only thing that COVID has affected. Practices look very different this year too. “Normally we can get the entire team in the water at the same time,” said Koivisto, “but not this year.”
They have limits on how many people are allowed in the water, and in specific lanes as well. Mask wearing and social distancing is required at all times out of the water, as masks are a little difficult to have on while swimming. Social distancing does extend to when swimmers are in the pool, according to Koivisto. Usually, swimmers hangout on the same side and may follow each other as they do warm ups or exercises, but now the students have to be on separate sides and keep their distance. “If a lane has two people in it we would have one person on the blocks side of the pool and one person on the opposite side, so in between sets we never have people standing next to each other.” Koivisto explained.
Koivisto also says that it’s been harder to meet with the team. “Team-bonding is limited pretty much to just practices.” They have done a couple of activities, like playing frisbee together with their masks on and distanced, and they can kind of hangout at practices, “but it’s not really the same,” Koivisto said.
Of course missing out on some meets and a regular season is frustrating, but Koivisto is trying to make the best of it and put in as much work as usual. One thing he is especially disappointed about is not having the team’s annual Training Trip. Usually, that happens right after Christmas and the team gets together and travels to a location somewhere in California to get in extra training while having fun.
Besides swimming, Koivisto is also involved in the tutoring program here at PLU, as well as SAAC, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He is a biochemistry major with a minor in biology and religion, and is on the pre-med track, planning to go to med-school after a year off. Although his senior year has been different than he planned, he is making the best of it and still plans to graduate in the spring.
