In the fall of 2013, Senior Shea Braden set the new Holy Family Record in the 100 yard Butterfly in just under 1:oo. Perhaps the most complex stroke, it is wear swimmers pop out of the water in a butterfly notion over and over again. Braden went on to compete collegiately at UMBC in Baltimore. The record seemed almost impossible to break.

The first meet of the 2019 season was August 24th at the Tim Daly Invitational for the Mound Westonka Girls swim team which Co-Ops with Holy Family. A Freshman named Zella Lucas stepped onto the block for her first first meet. She started off being on the 200 Medley relay taking 3rd. After that she won the 200 IM. What happened next was unexpected.

Over the summer, Zella trained 8 times a week, with 2 hour practices. She got up at 4:45 a.m. every morning to practice at 6. Swimming for the best swim club in Minnesota, Aquajets, her goal was to get the Junior Nationals. ” I had a rough meet” she said, ” the cuts were really difficult and I ended up missing it, it was a huge disappointment”. Zella, who has been all over the country for swimming, said ” swimming is a super under-appreciated sport. We train so many hours to hear that swimming isn’t a sport.”

Fast-forward back to the Tim Daly Invitational. Zella dove into the water with one goal: break the record. She and Benilde- St. Margarets Junior Taylor Williams (who is on the national team) broke away from the pack. As Williams got the advantage, Zella kept going. She touched the wall at 58.58, breaking Braden’s 6 year record, as a freshmen, in her first high school meet. “It was so cool that my training partner Emma Kern was there to see it.” Zella and Kern are currently trying to qualify for Winter Nationals in December.

In addition to Zella, Senior Captain Annabelle Elsner and Sophomore phenom Ellen Ries, who both went to state last year, are looking to go back. At the Tim Daly, Elsner got third in the 200 Medley with Zella, and also captured 2nd in the 100 backstroke. Ries lost by .02 seconds in the 200 freestyle, taking 2nd. Sophomore Emily Zhou will try to improve even more than her very impressive 2018 season. She will be the 4th of 4 Holy Family Swimmers.