The Simpson swim team’s morale and dedication has been unaffected by low participation this season.

There are only six women on the Simpson swim team and it placed three times this past season. The Storm took a seventh place finish at the St. Mary’s Invite and placed 11th at the Grinnell Invitational.

“We know we are a small team and we aren’t going to score the points that the bigger teams do,” said sophomore Andrea Petska.

The team captured a fifth place finish at the IIAC Championship in Cedar Rapids, scoring 202 points. Senior Amy Post took first place in the 50 meter freestyle with a season best time of 24.84.

Other highlights from the tournament included Petska finishing 11th in the 100-meter butterfly with a personal best time of 1:28.84.

The 200-meter freestyle relay team of Petska, junior Sarah Lauterbach, sophomore Molly Bartusch and freshman Mandi Rasmussen finished fifth with a time of 2:00.10.

“Overall, we did pretty well for the size of our team,” said Bartusch.

Petska said she was proud of the team coming together and keeping a positive outlook throughout the season.

The Storm focused on improving personal times and keeping motivated to finish out the season.

“Personally, my goal was to compete in the mile swim,” said Bartusch.

Lauterbach had a different agenda when she decided to swim competitively.

“I went out this season to have a good time and get to know my teammates,” said Lauterbach. “But I did have a personal best time at the last meet, and that was rewarding.”

The swim team hopes to build a more competitive program next season.

“We want to encourage more people to come out,” said Petska. “It doesn’t matter if they’ve swam before, it’s all about competing your best and improving your times.”