With an opportunity to repeat as a state gold medalist in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle swimming events, Siena Salvaggio has a lot to look forward to in the near future. She’s also looking long-term at the team that she’ll leave behind when she heads off to Penn State next fall and she’s excited about what lies ahead for the Parkland swimming program.

“I’m ready to pass the torch and one reason why I’m so ready is because we have such great young swimmers in the program,” said Salvaggio. “It’s a good feeling to know that when our senior class leaves, the program will still be strong.”

The senior class has helped the program tremendously. It’s provided a lot of exciting moments in the pool over the past four years with the team. Whether the seniors realize it or not, they have played an important role in helping the young swimmers.

“The seniors are always willing to help and give you advice or encouragement,” said freshman Allie Lin. “They’re a big reason why this season has gone so well, because they helped me and other new swimmers settle in and feel comfortable.”

When you look at the list of swimmers qualifying for states, seniors Salvaggio and Tori Connolly stand out, but then, there’s the freshman Lin and two sophomores – Megan Sicinski and Matt Ceh – who also earned a trip to the state meet, held next week at Bucknell University.

“I think every bit of experience you can get in these types of settings [districts] helps,” said Salvaggio. “Because with all of the work you do in the pool, there’s nothing like the big crowds who are cheering and all of the excitement that you face, and nothing really prepares you for that.”

Ceh is the only member of the boys team to qualify for states, but to him, the whole team played a big part in him reaching the meet at Bucknell.

“My teammates were really supportive and told me to just ‘go for it’ and told me ‘you got this.’ It was so great to see them cheering for me and to be a part of the team that was cheering on each other, too,” said Ceh.

Coach Rob Robitaille believes that Salvaggio is right about being able to pass the torch and believes the program is set to continue winning and continue its streak of four consecutive conference titles and eight consecutive district titles.

“I think that’s one thing that these seniors have stressed, is that it’s not all about them,” said Robitaille. “They have always not only helped each other, but have helped their teammates to do better. It’s nice to know that your kids will continue to have an interest in the program and to see how the team keeps up the pace. They don’t want to see our streak of titles end with them.”

The underclassmen are willing to accept the torch and hope to carry on the tradition.

“It’s great to know that someone like Siena has that much confidence in us to continue the winning tradition,” said Sicinski. “For us, it’s a big motivator because we want that winning to continue too, and we’re going to work hard to make sure that it does.”