Devlin Francis ’15 | Staff Writer

Chants of “Go Blue” and “Go Gold” could be heard at South’s pool as the Girls Swim Team held their annual “Blue Gold Meet” to mark the end of Devil’s Week.

Devil’s Week is six days of intense training and ran this season from Monday, Oct. 1 to Saturday, Oct. 6, Head Coach Eric Gunderson said. The team practiced for six hours on Monday and Tuesday, and then for three hours every day the rest of the week.

“I thought it would be hard, and it was,” said Aubrey Leggat ’16.

Like Leggat, Emma Cozad and Lily Hampton, both ’16, also agreed that Devil’s Week was very challenging, they said.

Devil’s Week marks about the middle of the season, Gunderson said.  There are only six weeks left, he said.

“Devil’s week was a lot of fun,” said Gunderson. “They (the team) worked hard, and we’re in a good position to finish up the season strong.”

Devil’s Week went very well according to captain Ellen Neveux ’13. Neveux is happy the team took everything seriously, she said.

“I’m very proud of the girls; they’ve done very well,” said captain Scarlet Cockell ’13. “It was pretty clear by the end of the Devil’s Week that everyone worked very hard, and I’m very proud of their effort.”

Both Cockell and Neveux expect the team to do better going forward and hope everyone can improve on their personal best times, they said, and do well in the State Championships like last year.

“I expect more girls to get state (qualifying) times,” said Neveux. “We also expect to improve from fourth place at States last year.”

Gunderson is also proud of the team’s work ethic during the intense workouts that went on. He hopes their efforts can continue through the remainder of the season, Gunderson said.

“Everyone stepped up, did more and worked harder than any other given week,” said Gunderson. “We have some tough meets coming up, though, and the girls will have to keep working hard.”

The team’s next meet against Ann Arbor Skyline will be one of their toughest meets of the season, Gunderson said. The meet will be held tonight at 6 p.m. at South.

“Skyline and Grosse Pointe South are going to be fighting for top spots at States,” said Gunderson. “They’re our biggest competition, and although they’re ranked a few spots below us, they’re a very good team.”

The team’s expectations for the rest of the season are high, Gunderson said. For example, the team expects to win the MAC Red Conference and finish as a top four team in the State, Gunderson said.

“Our goals are much different than our expectations though,” said Gunderson. “We expect to be top four in the State, but our goal is to be even better and be top two.”

The team also has one very large goal for the rest of the season; they hope to finish with only one loss, Gunderson said.

“We’re 6-1 right now, and our goal is to finish the rest of the season undefeated,” said Gunderson. “We have only one loss, and we want to keep it that way by finishing 13-1.”

Devil’s Week marks the middle of the season, and, as Gunderson said, the girls have a lot of work to do if they hope to finish the season 13-1.