Swim Senior Captain, Paige Trautman As my fourth and final swim season has come to a close, Viz Swim memories remain some of my favorites. Besides our speedy starts and good-looking mascot, the people are what makes this team truly extraordinary. My freshman and sophomore year, I was always looking up to the older girls. I loved how they would cheer on the team no matter what. Sophomore year I made it on the podium with them as the only underclassman on the relay and needless to say, I was terrified. Without the support of the other girls on that relay, we would not have gone as fast as we did. This year, as captain, I made it my mission to be the person the other girls could look up to. Varsity swim started off with many strong performances at our COMO meet at Mizzou. Our 400 Freestyle relay had made it back to finals as well as a few individual swimmers, and that's when I knew we were going to do great this year. I was excited to have a really strong relay for my senior year and knew that I would have to work as hard as I could to get the relay to where I wanted us to be. As conference rolled around, it wasn't looking great. We had three snow days right before one of our biggest meets that season which had messed up taper, and this was the last chance to get state cuts. Despite these unfortunate circumstances, the team managed to kill it at conference and father daughter later that night. Soon state came around. Despite a virtual day at school, Varsity swim showed up to state READY. TO. GO. We had trained for this. I was incredibly proud of all the hard work the girls put in and excited to see it pay off. Since this was my last meet, I was ready to go out with a bang and give it absolutely everything I could. Despite suit ripping and back-to-back races, Viz swim absolutely killed it! Our 200 free relay slid right into the last spot in the A final (8th place), despite starting off in 16th and ending with a 6th place finish in finals the next day! In addition, the 400 free relay ended in a 4th place finish in finals despite our 8th place seed time. For all non-swimmers, a seed time is where you rank based on your personal best. Although our achievements were great, what made this year extra special was the spirit. Although swim tends to be a rather forgotten sport, that did not happen this year thanks to the ever-zestful morning announcements. Shoutout to our team ”boyfriends” (Gavin, Grant, & Nick) and our parents for always cheering us on at meets! In addition to spirit, none of this would happen without our coaches: Coach Sean, Profe. Villmer, & Ms. Hartenbach! Although I know my time with Viz swim has come to a close, I'm excited to see all that the team will achieve in the coming years and hope that they grow to love Viz Swim as much as I do. Junior Captain, Kate Restovich This year’s basketball team was unlike one we’ve had in a few years at Viz. Over the course of a few months since November, we transformed from a group of girls who didn’t quite expect to be playing together into a family and best friends. With the combination of energetic freshman, eager sophomores, and leadership from the juniors who now were in charge of the whole program, we came together and did some pretty amazing things on and off the court! For starters, we started off the year on a 3-0 winning streak, which is better than we have ever started since I’ve been at Viz. Following that was a lively and always competitive game at Clayton high school, containing a hostile crowd in which we silenced by getting the win. Shoutout to Lucie for breaking ankles. And shoutout to Grace for getting a fan kicked out. After that we also put on a very fun Christmas Tournament at Viz, where all the best teams from the metro area compete. We won more games in our tournament this year than in years past, so again, we accomplished a lot of positive things early on this season. Then came Homecoming, Challenge Cup, and many more great feats for individuals on the team and for our program as a whole. Through the highs and lows of our season, we stuck together. We grew a lot together, especially with the help of our amazing coaches, and assistant coach Emma Mitchell, a Viz basketball alum. She taught us so many great things that will last way past basketball, and the JV and Varsity basketball teams are very lucky to have had her in our lives these past 4 months! Unfortunately she will soon be going to Columbia to pursue her lawyer career but we can’t wait for her to visit us next season. We just wrapped up the season in the district semifinals with a tough 2 point loss to Westminster. It would’ve been quite the upset, but we are already preparing to go way further next year and make history at Viz! Speaking of, we finished with the best record Viz basketball has seen in at least 10 years. This is just the start for our young team!
Racquetball- Senior Ingrid Azrak
Some people like the winter because of the snow; others like winter because of Christmas; still others like it for the sole purpose of drinking hot chocolate. I like the winter because of racquetball. Racquetball is by far the best time of the year--the most wonderful time of the year, in fact. While waking up on Sunday before the crack of dawn is certainly a struggle, match day makes it all worth it. Every match day, the 2:45 early-out excitement and car ride jitters always pump me up for the big match. Warming up on the courts, a calm feeling washes over me, and I know I'm ready. Over the next heart attack-inducing 45 minutes, I hear Queen Hanneke's voice repeatedly screaming at me to RUN (followed by her little giggle, of course<3) as I stumble around the little racquetball court with no sense of direction. By the end of every nail-biting match, win or lose, I am always happy. I will never be able to explain the racquetball exhilaration, but I can only encourage everyone to try it!