Hard work pulls Cherry Hill West team together

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS • School: Cherry Hill West • Record: 12-2 overall, 5-0 South Jersey Swim League, Caribbean Division • Top Swimmers: Seniors Maureen O'Neill, Amanda Waldner, junior Laura Pierce, sophomores Leigh Patterson, Cathy Howard and Emily Bart. • Playoff run: Sectional first round -- beat Eastern 109-61; sectional semifinal -- beat Washington Township 96-74; sectinal final -- beat Cherry Hill East 98-72; state semifinal, lost to West Windsor-Plainsboro South 89-81. • Individual winners: O'Neill, Pierce, Patterson and Waldner finished first at the Meet of Champions with a time of 1:39.09 in the 200 freestyle relay.

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lighted." -- Plutarch

Scott Sweeten, the innovative Cherry Hill West girls' swimming coach, used the above quote to help inspire his team to work hard.

The inspirational quick-hitter worked.

As a team, the Lions lit their minds to spark a determination and dedication to be the best. It wasn't just a few swimmers that pushed to touch the wall first either.

"I wasn't an All-Star swimmer and the majority of the team that doesn't practice at a club aren't All-Stars, we worked really hard to get fourth, fifth and sixth places," said senior Joelle Humenik, who swam the 200 and 500 freestyle for the Lions.

"They are the longest events, so you try to get fifth instead of sixth," she said. "It is one point, but it can make all the difference."

The hard work by the outside lane swimmers for West didn't go unnoticed by the All-Stars such as Maureen O'Neill, a second-team All-South Jersey selection in the 50 freestyle.

"I never doubted the dedication in my teammates," said O'Neill, also a senior. "The great thing about high school swimming is that every point matters, from fifth place points to first place points. The girls on the team work as hard as they can just so they can score one point for the team.

"No swimmer on our team was going to give up in the water or give up a point to the other team."

Amanda Waldner was another West All-Star who appreciated the hard work of the swimmers who dove into the pool battling for one point.

Waldner teamed with O'Neill, Laura Pierce and Leigh Anne Patterson to clock the area's fastest time in the 200 freestyle relay with a 1:39.09 to win the Meet of Champions.

"It always helps to have dedicated teammates working as hard as yourself," Waldner said. "It makes you push yourself to be better than them."

Just getting to practice for the Lions was dedication. Since West doesn't have its own pool, the Lions traveled to the Philadelphia Christian Street Y to practice.

"We average practicing five days a week. We take a bus into Philly," Humenik said. "The Christian Street Y doesn't even have lane lines or blocks, so we are at a real disadvantage to teams that have their own pool. We really have to work extra hard."

The team left at 2:30 after school and returned at 6:30 each night of the week.

"We would swim three hours on Saturday, so we spent up to 20 hours a week swimming -- and club swimmers put in even more than that -- all for one point," Humenik said.

Despite not being an "All-Star" like she said, it is easy to understand why Humenik was a captain along with Waldner and O'Neill.

Humenik, though, speaks even more glowingly about other swimmers on the team who don't even score but still put in the work.

"A lot of girls don't even score points, they just swim in the outside relays just to swim," Humenik said. "To practice every day like that it is all worth it, we are so dedicated."

The dedication shown by the entire West team did more than push the top swimmers. The hard work pulled the team together.

"I've never been on a team like the Lady Lions where every girl practices and competes for pure love and dedication to their teammates," O"Neill said. "Our loss (West Windsor-Plainsboro South) in the playoffs was crushing, but it demonstrated just how close our team was.

"We huddled in the back of the bus crying, not because we had lost, but because we would not get another chance to swim as a team again. That's what made all the hard work worth it."

"At the beginning of my freshman year, I absolutely hated practicing," O'Neill said. "I slacked off way too much. Along the way, as I came to realize just what being a Lady Lion meant, I changed.

"The hard work is nothing compared to the satisfaction you receive when finishing a race and knowing your teammates are proud of you because you gave it everything you had, in practice and in the meets," O'Neill added.

"I've gone from someone who hated swim practice to someone who has made the whole-hearted decision to practice and compete at the collegiate level."

Waldner, who will swim for Central Connecticut State next year and major in exercise science, already tasted what missing all the hard work was about. She had a really bad ear infection and her ear drum ruptured.

"It was the worst pain I ever went through," Waldner said. "I was out of the pool for about two weeks. For the first time in all four years swimming on the team I had to sit back and watch, that was very hard for me to do. I just wanted to jump in the pool and swim."

The Cherry Hill West team swam when they were tired and sore and exhausted.

"These girls did indeed work very hard for what they achieved," Sweeten said.

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