The boys’ swim season has started, and Pella has two participants, senior Carter Briggs and junior Jacob Nedder. These boys take part in the NCMP (Newton, Colfax Mingo, and Pella) Boy’s Swim Team.
Briggs has been swimming for six years, while his teammate Nedder has been swimming for eight. According to Nedder and Briggs, swimming is a very rigorous sport and takes a lot of dedication, which can be daunting to newcomers.
“I was first put into swimming competitively at about 8, doing the rec program here at Pella,” Nedder stated. “It went well enough that when I was 11, I joined the more intense USA program. That pushed me hard, and it was almost a step back to join up with High School swimming. I was interested by the ideas of a more complete team and shorter meets. I’m glad I did!”
Practice brings perfection, which includes hours of practice in and out of the water for these boys. Schedules can get crammed with the many activities that high school offers. Nedder gets to experience many different opportunities provided by Pella High School along with the lengthy practices.
“An average day for me includes morning practice at the Pella pool at 5:45. I then go to either jazz band or show choir before school starts,” said Nedder. “After seventh period, I start to drive up to Newton for practice. About once a week, I have show choir after swimming until nine.”
While swimming takes a lot of serious work, there’s always time to have fun with teammates.
“For high school swimming, I would definitely say the team builds up over the season. After the first week, it was clear that this was a far more connected sport than rec or USA had been. Another benefit is being able to push myself and my team against other teams of swimmers,” said Nedder.
Briggs agrees and enjoys that aspect of being on the team.
”My favorite part of swimming is setting goals and working to improve my times,” said Briggs. “Even though this is can be a very individual experience, it is fun to practice and race with the other swimmers on the team.”
Both of these swimmers have things they would like to improve on this year. Briggs would like to get his 100 breast time from a 1:02 to under a 1:01 and his 50 breast time to under 27.5. He also wants to be competitive and make it back to the state meet. Nedder’s biggest goal is to try to break the record in the 100 backstroke, while his other goal is helping the team win upcoming meets.
