As junior Elena Amos neared the end of pool in the 200-meter medley relay, freshman Marien Martinez, sophomore Courtney Scott and senior Cece Sullivan were skeptical if they finished with a fast enough time. After looking up at the scoreboard, the relay team was excited to learn of their first place finish and a new pool record.

During the meet on Oct. 25, the girls team took home the first place title over A&M Consolidated, scoring 94 points. With three pool records broken during the meet, the expectations for the rest of season have risen.

“It definitely made the energy at the meet a lot more exciting,” Scott said. “The energy from the start of the meet was a little bit down. But after that record was broken, the energy shot up.”

After breaking the medley record, which was the first event of the meet, the tone of the meet shifted. It was the first record broken this season, and the team celebrated as soon as the swimmers saw the time. The relay team was especially excited because of how early in the season it is. 

“I didn’t know the time for the pool record, and then Elena got out of the water,” Sullivan said. “She was like, this one’s the pool record. I was definitely excited, since we’re in the middle of the season.” 

Amos, who swam the freestyle portion of the 200 meter medley, also broke pool records in the 50-meter race and the 100-meter butterfly race. 

Going into the meet, Amos did not have expectations to break records, especially in the 50 meter freestyle event. Amos finished the event with a time of 24.27.

“I just wanted to get close to my freshman time, which was the pool record,” Amos said. “because I haven’t really hit that time since freshman year.”

Amos broke the pool record for the 100-meter butterfly race with a time of 56.85.   

Since her freshman year, Amos has specialized in short-distance freestyle events and become a crucial part of the team.

Amos said she had found the most support among her family, especially her grandma. Amos’s grandma, who attended the meet, was excited to see her granddaughter’s reaction each time she broke a record.

“She never knows what’s a good time or what’s a bad time,” Amos said. “But she said that she really loves seeing my reaction.”

Being the last leg of the medley, Amos knew of the early lead her teammates gave her. However, she and the relay team did not know they would finish with the pool record.

Since then, the expectations for the rest of the season have grown because the team has already recorded State-qualifying times early in the preseason. Amos, Scott and Sullivan all competed in the 200-meter medley at the State Meet last year and have expectations to make a return.

“I was a bit shocked,” Scott said. “I was like, no way we went that time because that was around the time we went at State last year. So we’re already way ahead of what we were doing during our championship season and it’s still the beginning of the season.”