Delmarva Christian swim teams hope to make a splash in ESIAC
As the programs continue to grow, the Delmarva Christian boys’ and girls’ swim teams are eager to continue making waves in southern Delaware and the Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference.
“It’s awesome to see the team grow. Our team is like a family, so it's just awesome to meet different people, add people in and connect with the team,” said senior Natalie Ekholm.
“I would love to continue to grow this program,” said Royals coach Ann Mahan. “That was kind of what I was looking at a couple of years ago when I took over coaching this program.”
Ekholm has been on the team for four years and began swimming when she was 4. Her experience is valuable for both teams, and she believes preseason has gone well for the Royals.
“We've been pushing each other hard to increase our time, to get better, and overall, we’ve been encouraging each other – I think that's a big part,” Ekholm said.
Helping to share the leadership load will be junior Emily Obertubbesing on the girls’ side and sophomore Trax Rogers on the boys’ side.
“We get so many new people so, it's hard, but it helps a lot because there's so many inexperienced people and by the end of the season they grow so much,” Obertubbesing said.
Obbertubbesing is set to compete individually in the breaststroke and 50 freestyle, but she thinks the team events will be strong too.
“I have a lot of high hopes and expectations for myself, but also our relay team,” Obertubbesing said. “I'm excited!”
Rogers said freshman year was a bit intimidating, but he got more comfortable when he realized the whole team was working to improve, regardless of experience.
“I think this team can be a lot better than they were last year,” Rogers said
“We've been able to have more conditioning, so hopefully our team's a little stronger this year after preseason,” Mahan said.
“We have two freshmen boys and a freshman girl, and they all are working very hard to improve on their skills,” Rogers said. “Even though we lost quite a few swimmers, we gained that back with not only newer swimmers but also having that same work ethic.”
“Although it's a young team, [and] that excites me, we have all of our kids who didn’t graduate coming back and returning, which is really great,” Mahan said.
Delmarva Christian’s schedule features three ESIAC tri-meets, one quad-meet, and one tri-meet against Lake Forest and Seaford. The Royals hope swimming in the ESIAC continues to grow, but they are also excited to square off against Henlopen Conference opponents Milford and Sussex Central.
