Freedom’s faithful swim team found motivation in each other and their hunger to win during the past winter months. To call the team small is almost an understatement as they faced Hopewell and Blackhawk, teams that more than tripled FHS’s meager supply. “The team size doesn’t really matter,” Senior Stephanie Stewart said, “except in the overall score.” FHS swimmers don’t care about the numbers, except when it comes to the ones on the clock. The January meet was an improvement for everyone. Danielle Lindsay was excited to drop 40 seconds from her previous time in the backstroke. “People don’t usually drop that much time; it’s really good,” Junior Alexis Potts said. With MACs qualifying times attached to a nearby wall, everyone had a goal in mind. Sam Schweinsberg narrowly missed his hopeful time of 1:14 for the 100 meter backstroke. Schweinsberg wasn’t happy. “I kind of let myself down, but I still tried hard,” he said. “Sam came one second from [making] it,” Freshman Josh Scott said. Scott’s performance was more profitable. He qualified for MACs in the breast stroke. He is the only one so far to qualify, but may soon have company. Even though the hope to qualify has come and gone, there is still the opportunity for the swimmers to participate as part of a relay. Since the swim team has no cheerleaders and the parents sit far above on a balcony, the swimmers had to take on the task of cheering, along with their other duties. As an individual swam their hardest, they were met with cheering set carefully to shed sound as their friend’s heads bobbed above the water. “You can’t really see everyone unless they are walking on the side of the pool, but you can always hear them… It’s nice to know that they got your back,” Stewart said.