After finishing 4th in the Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitation, the young Vikings keep looking forward as they prepare for the Keck DIII Select Meet on February 3, held in Bloomington, IL.
Team chemistry can be a necessary in sports. When talking to Junior, Audrey Hogenkamp, she put great emphasis on the topic.
“We honestly have great team chemistry. We have a team GroupMe and all the girls send silly pictures and memes. That gives you an idea of how close we all are,” Hogenkamp said. “I see a lot of passion in all the girls on the team, and I think that’s our greatest strength.”
When talking about the success the team gets from having strong chemistry, Senior, Claire Bacon, agreed with Hogenkamp.
“The team is like a second family, and I think that this is something that’s crucial to having success. Knowing that you have teammates to support you through tough workouts motivates you to give your best effort,” Bacon said. “At the end of the day, I feel lucky, simply knowing that I get to be surrounded by so many awesome women. If we end up winning, then that’s an added bonus.”
The team has finished 2nd in its first two meets this season. Bacon tributes the early success of the season to her teammates, and both Bacon and Hogenkamp had nothing but praise for their teammates.
“Encouraging each other at meets and in practices is what our team does best in. When everyone is cheering on all the different events at a meet, the team can feed off of this excitement, and I think it’s shown through in our performances so far. My teammates are some of the hardest workers I know, and seeing them be proud of how they’ve competed at these tough first meets makes me feel proud also,” Bacon said.
The Vikings have a busy schedule following the meet on February 3 as they travel to Grinnell this following weekend to compete in the Darren Young Classic. Then they will travel to Dubuque, Iowa the weekend after, as they compete in the Dubuque Spartan Invite.