Swim captain Grace Mordhorst (12) adjusted their swim cap and tried to fight off the early morning chill. It was around 6 a.m., and for the past several days they had braved the freezing mornings to train for swim. In just a few hours, they would have to be ready for the school day ahead, but right then, they slipped into the water and began warming up for their practice.

Mordhorst played on the girls water polo team for the winter season, and then immediately jumped into training for swim. Mordhorst said that though water polo requires strong swimming abilities, it also involves skills unrelated to swim, so they started training for the swim season as soon as possible.

“I just got out of water polo season, so I’ve been swimming in water polo,” Mordhorst said. “It’s important to be [a fast swimmer] in that sport, but it has other focuses. So basically as soon as our CIFs for water polo ended, I went straight to swim and started practicing every day.”

This intense practice schedule helps prepare swimmers’ stamina and speed for the season ahead, especially because many swimmers compete in multiple events at each meet. Mordhorst is no exception; at the meet with La Costa Canyon High School on March 9, they swam in the 200m medley relay, the 400m freestyle relay, and both the 200m and 100m freestyle races. However, they said they prefer freestyle swimming over the other strokes.

“As a water polo player I definitely practice a lot of freestyle,” Mordhorst said. “I think I’m personally strongest with freestyle. I like sprints as well—not too much distance.”

Along with the individual training, Mordhorst cooperates with the rest of the team and their co-captain, Sabrina Shen (12), to ensure the group is improving as a whole. After working with Shen as co-captains in the water polo season, Mordhorst said they find it easy to get along, and they’ve only had to adjust to some new responsibilities that come with the different sport.

“I haven’t really found [sharing captain duties] something we’ve had to work on,” Mordhorst said. “I’ve known her for a long time and we’ve done a lot together, so we work pretty well together. I would just say [swim] is a bit more logistical than water polo [in terms of] just getting everyone in the events to maximize the chance to beat the other team, but overall the leadership skills required are the same.”

Mordhorst said they believe there are certain leadership qualities that they have demonstrated best throughout their time as captain of both sports.

“I would consider myself a pretty direct person,” Mordhorst said. “I’m pretty good at speaking in front of people and addressing a group, so that helps when I’m leading warmups and cooldowns or announcing scores at the end of a meet.”

Though this is Mordhorst’s final year on the swim team, they said they are looking forward to their last season and watching how the new additions to the team will perform.

“I’m feeling good [about my last year],” Mordhorst said. “Some of the freshmen are looking pretty fast this year, so that’s something I’m excited to see. So I’m looking forward to hopefully a win and just spending time with my teammates.”