Co-captain of Girls Varsity Swim and Dive Lauren Smith ’24 has led the team to their first appearance at the Easterns Championship, and afterwards at the New England Championship. Over the course of her time on the team, she has been able to achieve personal goals while also promoting a positive team culture. When describing Smith’s contributions to the team, Tess Ho ’27 said, “She’s our team mom.”
Even as one of the fastest swimmers on the team, she admits she comes from humble beginnings. Smith laughed when asked about how she first began swimming and explained that she initially started when her parents noticed her tendency to run into the pool without their supervision and wanted to keep her safe. Smith said, “It’s funny because most kids get into swimming because of their parents, but I didn’t, I just stuck with it.”
However, Smith’s skills in the pool now are certainly much more than precautionary. After spending several years in club swimming programs available in her area, Smith joined the Varsity Swim team as a Freshman and has consistently been one of the team’s top performers. During her time on the team, Smith has experimented with many styles of swimming. Unlike many swimmers, she does not specialize in one particular race or stroke. Regarding her approach, Smith said, “I talked to my coach this year and told her that before I graduate I want to swim every event one more time. The past few years, it’s happened just out of coincidence, but knowing this is my last year, I wanted to make sure I could swim all of them.” Although Smith would swim every event, she admitted that her best and most frequently swam event is the 100-yard butterfly.
Last year’s success at the New England Championships prompted both the boys’ and girls’ teams to compete in the Easterns Cham- pionships this season for the first time in roughly 10 years. Despite the lack of participation in recent years, the boys placed 7th overall and the girls placed 10th overall. Smith swam in the 200-yard IM Relay (a relay where four swimmers swim the four strokes respectively), the 50-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard breaststroke races. Smith was able to lead the team to a successful outcome considering the entire team had not traveled to the event in 10 years.
While Smith impacts the team through her consistent performance in the pool, she is also a heavy contributor to the team culture. Elizabeth Kelly ’25, a three year member of Deerfield Swim, commented on Smith’s ability to uplift the team in performance as well as team culture. She said, “Lauren is a great part of the team, in the pool and out. She’s always cheering on her teammates when she’s not swimming.”
Ho also said, “She would always create conversations with the freshmen at team dinner, and even encouraged me to join water polo, which I’m doing in the spring.”
While Smith does not plan to swim in college, she appreciates her time swimming at Deerfield. She attributes her ability to work as a part of a team to Deerfield swimming. She said, “Swimming overall is a pretty individual sport, but at Deerfield it’s a very team-oriented sport. [Deerfield] is such a close-knit community, and that does reflect on the pool deck.”
With the Deerfield swim season wrapping up, Smith’s impact on the team remains clear. Mia Senturk ’24 said, “She leads by example, she has never hesitated to do or say something for someone else on the team.” In the spring, Smith will continue to lead the Girls’ Water Polo team as a captain.