Swimming in one of the state’s toughest leagues can make for an up-and-down regular season, but the Hazen girls swim and dive team is built for much more than wins and losses.
“One of the great things about Hazen is the size of the team and how it is so much more than our district and state swimmers,” said Hazen coach Diane Dobson.
“We have kids who might never join another club or team. Kids who never have been in a pool and don’t have the first idea how to swim competitively or what it is. Kids who come in quiet and sheltered, and their biggest goal is to cheer at the end of the lane with their teammates. Kids who can’t swim 25 yards and don’t know what strokes are at the start of the season, but finish their sets with pride by the end of the season,” she said.
This year the team has even bigger numbers than usual. Dobson said the Highlanders’ 70 athletes is the most ever.
“The team kind of speaks for itself at this point,” Dobson said. “It’s not even the success as much as the sportsmanship and unity.”
Hazen brings in big numbers every year and the district informed Dobson that if the Highlanders had too many swimmers, Dobson would have to make cuts.
“That is outside of the program that I have created and I will not cut,” Dobson said. “Swimming is a life skill and there is so much more to the Hazen program than success in the pool.”
Hazen has gone up to 13 practices a week to make enough room for all the swimmers to get required practices. The extra work puts more stress on the coaches, but it’s worth it for them.
Marking her priorities, Dobson said she doesn’t even know her win-loss record as a coach. But she can tell you how many swimmers she has every season, what her team’s GPA is, and how many non-swimmers the team has every year.
Standout swimmers
The Highlanders placed fourth at districts last year, behind fellow Seamount teams Kennedy (first) and Mount Rainier (second), and 11th at state.
Junior Lauren Kaufman is one of the state’s top sprinters after two straight third-place finishes at the state meet in the 50 freestyle. She also placed fifth in the 100 free at state last year.
Kaufman broke personal records in both races at state and took down a decades-old Hazen record in the 50 free.
She has already qualified for districts in every event. She’s qualified for state in the 50 and 100 free, 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley (IM).
Hazen has another junior returning with state experience in Kaela Nurmi. Nurmi competed in the 50 free and 100 backstroke at state last year.
Nurmi is also qualified for district in every event and state in the 50 free and 100 backstroke.
Other district qualifiers so far include freshman Amy LeBar (200 IM, 50 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 200 free), Leah Maier (100 breaststroke) and Kara Bradford (500 free).
Hazen swims at Kennedy on Oct. 22 for the Highlanders final meet of the regular season.
