Bridgewater, Va.- Ahead of the 2022-2023 season, the Bridgewater women’s swim team has new recruits coming in, and the young players from last year, now veterans, look to hold nothing back at every swim meet during the season. 

“I’m looking forward to how big our team has expanded,” said sophomore Melia Ross. “Our numbers will definitely help us with gaining more points and wins this season.”

Bridgewater’s Lady Eagles have gained five new freshmen this year. 

Last year, the Bridgewater swim team performed well, going 7-2 for the season. They won four out of their six conference meets last year as well. 

“I think we will be better this year because of the number of people we have now, and also everyone has seemed to have gotten better, and we are much more experienced,” said junior Katelyn Wiglesworth.

The Bridgewater women’s swim team has had an exciting start to their season. They came in fifth out of ten teams in the ODAC relays on Oct. 8. Even though they lost their first official meet of the year, they had some success with top performers of their team. 

The Bridgewater women’s swim team managed to break three different program records during this dual meet. 

The first program record that was broken was during the very first event of the day: the 200-meter medley event. First-year Grace Warren, junior Isabelle Bauer, Ross and Wiglesworth all contributed to breaking the record with Bridgewater’s best time of 2:07.31. 

Bauer once again placed her name in Bridgewater’s record books for the 100-meter breaststroke. Finishing by nearly a full second ahead, Bauer came in first in the event. 

The Bridgewater women’s team did not stop there, as they went on to break their third record of the day in the final women’s event: the 200-meter freestyle relay. Warren and Wiglesworth put their names in the record book while teaming up with sophomore Abby Martin and junior Katie Yoder to finish with a time of 1:54.99. 

Wiglesworth was also able to snatch up a win in the 100-meter by hammering second place by nine-tenths of a second, finishing with a time of 1:08.98. 

“In the moment, I didn’t even notice how fast I was going and was surprised to see that my time was so good,” said Wiglesworth.

This is only a preview of what is to come from the women’s swim team, as they look forward to building upon the accomplishments of their last meet.

 “With strong leadership and new incoming talent, the team looks forward to competing at a high level,” said Ross.  

After a successful first outing of the 2022-2023 season, the Bridgewater swim team’s next meet is Oct. 28, on the road against Randolph.