The Becker Bulldog Swim & Dive team preseason practice has been paying off, with the season starting off with two good meets and improvements already being seen.

The team of 50 girls is led by Head Coach Tina Tamm, who has been coaching for 23 years, 21 of them for Becker.

Tamm is assisted by Diving Coach Kayla Kalinowski, whose been with the team 10 years, and first year Assistant Coach Megan Hook.

The team started official practice Aug. 12, they practice every day they don’t have a meet for around two and a half hours in the aquatic center.

“What we concentrate on most is training for the races,” said Tamm. “They have to concentrate on breathing, speed and technique every time they get in the pool. We always need to work on technique throughout the whole season.”

Six seniors are on the Bulldogs Swim & Dive team this season, Alana Berger, Sopie Diaz, Hailey Eriksson, Kamryn Gass, Keeley Holm and Avery Tamm.

“I’m excited to see what we can accomplish this season with the number of girls that we have,” said Tamm. “We have a lot of new girls that have a lot of talent and will be a huge benefit to this team.”

The Bulldogs Swim and Dive Team’s home opener was Tuesday against Holdingford, which they lost in a close meet.

“We had a lot of very good races for the first dual meet of the season,” said Tamm. “The girls were ready to compete against a very comparable Holdingford team.”

A number of Bulldogs qualified for the section meet on the first night, including Kamryn Gass, 200 free, Annika Howe, 200 IM, Hailey Eriksson, 50 free and 100 free, Sarah Woelfel, diving, Lauren Woelfel, diving, Keeley Holm, diving, Morgan Schrader, 500 free, Alana Berger, 100 backstroke, and Avery Tamm, 100 breaststroke.

Thursday saw the team competing against Big Lake, where the meet started with a sweep of the 200 free, but in the end too many races were lost by less than half a second and the team was defeated.

“Our girls swam hard and were touched out in the last stroke of the race,” said Tamm. “We had some good race times and some pretty exciting races. In the second meet of the season girls are seeing time improvements.”

Section qualifiers at the meet were Delaney Varney, 100 butterfly, Tia Schaap, 100 free, Sophie Diaz, 100 free, and Grace Wynia, 100 breaststroke.

“We have had two really good meets to start our season and we travel to Foley on Tuesday, Sept. 10,” said Tamm. “Looking forward to another great meet that night.”