Caroline Beiting '25 Recruiting Profile

            Covid brought many challenges to my team, including having to swim outside throughout the whole year. This is unusual in Kentucky since the temperatures can drop surprisingly low during the winter. Unable to swim indoors at our normal practice pool, our only option was to swim outside. Some days the pool got to 73 degrees, and we still had “optional” practice. We swam in seven-degree weather during an ice storm that froze the pool deck and our equipment bags, with no indoor facility to even get dressed in afterwards.

Now that we have an indoor facility to use all year, I am grateful, and I try not to take something as simple as a locker room to change in for granted. Since I don’t have to worry about the cold anymore, practices can be focused solely on training hard in and out of the pool. Many athletes switched teams or quit because of this challenge, but I am loyal to my team. I persevere through the hardships because I know it will be worth it when it is over, just like a difficult set. I want it to be worth it for my teammates as well, so I hold them accountable, challenge, and encourage them to do their best. Some of my goals are to be the best teammate possible so that I can help my friends succeed and to put in my best effort in everything I do whether it’s sports or school. I work towards getting better, faster, and stronger in the pool, even after I achieve a certain time cut. I don’t want to be satisfied with how I swim now because there is always something I can change to be better.