Off-Season Prep May Propel PHS Girls Swim

Peninsula High School’s second-year swim and dive coach Athena Petterson is looking to ignite a spark in the water this season.

Speed was the recurring theme as she talked about what’s changed from the end of the 2023 season to the start of the 2024 season.

“I feel like I was floundering a little bit at the beginning,” Petterson said about her first season. “Now, I feel like I’m more prepared and equipped, and I know the kids a lot better so I can tailor their training to them.”

That training comes in the form of what she calls the “Sprint Revolution,” a technique she picked up by talking with a variety of high school, club and college coaches during the off-season. It focuses less on swimming long periods of time and more on short fast-paced repetitions. This summer, Petterson also hosted “Fast Fridays” at the PHS pool, where she put on mini mock swim meets to give her swimmers a weekly feel of what it’s like to race.

“That’s how you get faster — by training faster.”

She feels it’s that spark that can help the girls improve on their 26th place finish at last year’s WIAA Girls 3A State Championship meet.

“They are willing to do whatever it takes,” said Petterson. “They have more experience and it should be less shaky and nervous and more confident.”

Senior Kate Henkel and sophomore Lee Gjertson will be Petterson’s versatile workhorses, competing in both individual and relay races. The coach thinks Gjertson will continue to add value to relay events, but will break through as the Seahawks’ top sprint racer. One of Gjertson’s goals this season, Petterson said, is to break the school’s 50-yard freestyle record, currently set at 24.36 seconds. Gjertson’s personal best in that race is 26.64 seconds. Petterson suggests that shaving 2.3 seconds off this year will not be easy, but believes Gjertson can get there before her high school career ends.

“Lee is as competitive as it gets and is motivated by success,” Petterson said. “If you dangle that carrot in front of her she will chase after it, which I love.”

While Gjertson and Henkel will lead the shorter sprint events, senior Reis Every and freshman Reese Miller will be the team’s “powerhouses for distance freestyle,” according to Petterson. They’ll both likely be racing in 200 and 500-yard freestyles. Senior co-captain Annan Ball will swim breaststroke events.

Junior Jordan Givot replaces Makenna Post on the 1-meter diving board. Post placed second at state in the event last season and had two other top-10 finishes in her high school career, and now dives for Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Givot is a former gymnast who switched sports after dealing with some knee issues. Petterson said she prefers her divers to be either dancers or gymnasts rather than swimmers. “With diving you need to be flexible, and there’s a lot of twists and turns, so even though swimming and diving are part of the same team, they don’t really correlate in terms of training.”

The Seahawks have five home dual meets this year with the season kicking off Sept. 19 against North Thurston. Other home meets are against River Ridge (Sept. 24), Lincoln (Oct. 1), Mt. Tahoma (Oct. 10) and Capital (Oct. 15). Peninsula goes head-to-head against Gig Harbor at GHHS Oct. 3.