This year, Oakville’s girls swim team has had many successes, including two swimmers qualifying for state.

Bailey Brown (12) qualified for state this season for the first time in her event, the 100 fly. Brown qualified for state at the conference meet held at Lindbergh with a time of 1:01.57, the state qualifying time was 1:02.09. In order to make the state time, Brown bought herself a tech suit. The suit is made out of very thin material that repels water, with the hopes of improving swim time.

Brown was only four seconds away from making it to state last swim season, and although that can be a lot of time in swim, Brown knew she could accomplish it.

“To prepare for state, I joined another team over the summer known as FAST, Flyers Aquatic Swim Team. They have a lot of different coaches so I got quite a few opinions on how I could improve my stroke,” Brown said.

Brown competed in the state meet on Friday, Feb. 17 where she added a tenth of a second to her time, but moved up a place in the final ranking putting her in 36th place. Brown says she almost felt indifferent about how she did in the state meet because she had already achieved her goal to make it to state.

“I am so thankful that I accomplished my goal to make it to state because I know that when I hang my suit up for the last time, I will do it with pride because I know I left everything I have in the pool” Brown said.

Allison Streb (10) also qualified for state for her second year in a row in her event, the 100 back, at the Rockwood Summit Invite. “I was really happy to qualify for state early because it was my goal for the season,” Streb said.