Troy High School’s synchronized swimming team has been on an influential streak in recent years. The team celebrated a first place victory at the 2022 State Synchronized Swimming Championship last year and recently finished this year’s season by placing second at the State Championship. As six seniors, Noyonima Masud, Yejin Moon, Cynthia Wang, Niru Varma, Helen Xiao and Erin Xia, leave the team this year, their accomplishments and contributions to the state-winning team are celebrated. 

After winning the State Championship title back in 2015, the girls were able to reclaim the title last year. Senior Cynthia Wang, captain of Troy High School’s synchronized swimming team, recalls that winning the State Championship was “kind of a fever dream.” She continues, “It’s just something that [we’ve] worked so hard for.” 

Senior Helen Xiao also adds, “Honestly, we were holding our breaths because we had lost a lot of membership after COVID. So when we won last year, it was like a miracle.”

The team attended five meets over the span of two months last year, excluding the time for tryouts and additional practices. Senior Niru Varma discloses the team’s journey to winning the State title: “A lot of time was put into it. It was definitely stressful for all of us but we all kind of just helped each other out.” The team spent many long hours at the pool perfecting their routines and their hard work definitely paid off, considering their big win at the State Championships. 

This year, the team fell to the Ann Arbor Pioneer Synchronized Swimming team and placed second in both the figure and routine categories. Wang discusses her thoughts on this year’s season: “I think our girls did super good. We had a really successful figure season as well as a routine season. We did lose our state streak, but it’s always friendly competition and we respect Ann Arbor Pioneer for winning.” She continues, “I think we always gave our best effort when it came to practices and meets so I am very satisfied with how we did this year.”

“The team really rose to the challenge and turned in some impressive performances,” states Head Coach Lori Uchwal-Hollier. “But we are going to take what we learned into next season and hopefully win back our title of State Champions!”

Not only did the team spend a lot of time working on their routines, they also spent a lot of time bonding and creating stronger relationships with everyone. As the seniors look back on their past years on the team, they discuss their favorite memories with the team. Varma shares her favorite memory: “Last year we had a movie night where we watched Mamma Mia. That was fun.” 

Wang also stated that one time before practice, the team went into the snow to make snow angels and then hopped in the pool with snow all over.

The seniors of the synchronized swimming team express the impact this team will leave on them. As Wang says, “I love the people this year from this team and I think that I built a lot of connections that are going to stay with me for a lifetime.”