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Guilford’s Own Swim Team

I’m part of a dedicated group of parents and students who want Guilford High School (GHS) to have its own swim team. In recent years, the number of Guilford swimmers who are members of local swim clubs has grown dramatically. However, it’s important for the swimmers to experience swimming for their high school. In Guilford, the situation is far from ideal.

For girls to swim, they can swim with Branford High School, but the current arrangement allows only three Guilford swimmers to swim per season. Also, the swimmers can’t score points for the Branford team. That means they cannot participate in relays (many swimmers’ favorite events) and they can only swim in limited exhibition heats at meets. They are basically swimming to train and feel part of a high school team. The only time they can represent Guilford is at conference and state championships, and that’s only if they qualify to be there.

As for the boys, they recently co-oped with Branford, which is a slightly better situation, yet Guilford is not represented as it should be, and has to reapply for this co-op every two years.

Guilford is a proud town. We are proud of our businesses, history, and citizens—young and old. If we had a high school swim team, Guilford would be immensely proud of our swimmers. The swim team accepts anybody who’s willing to try. It’s a wonderful sport that people can enjoy throughout their lives. As parents of swimmers, we are hoping to have the swim team put in the budget for the next school year. We believe that Guilford residents will see the benefit of having a GHS swim team that will grow and flourish in years to come. To find out more about GHS swimming, readers may contact me at duffymudry@yahoo.com.

Duffy Mudry

Guilford