Junior Andie Meise can be described in one word: dedicated. Meise is a dedicated friend, leader and above all else, swimmer. Meise’s coach, Caroline Jones, describes her as one of the hardest workers she has ever seen and someone who pushes herself to the brink of exhaustion every practice. Meise’s friend and teammate, senior Anna Wilcox, had similar sentiments toward Meise.
“Andie is an extremely devoted and hardworking teammate who is constantly bringing the best out of everybody,” Wilcox said.
Meise’s dedication is not exclusive to the work she puts in the pool, as she is also a dedicated leader for the young Demons swim team.
“Andie is an incredible role model for her younger teammates,” Jones said. “She always sets a great example for her team by being early, energetic and hard-working.”
Meise’s roots as a swimmer can be traced back to when she began swimming for Star swim club at age six.
“I started swimming year round when I was six years old for Star swim club and continued to swim year round till the end of eighth grade when I took a break from swimming for cross country,” Meise said.
After a disappointing freshman year of swimming, Meise rededicated herself to the sport and immediately saw improvement, taking seconds off her time in each event.
“Her willingness to set goals and preserver in reaching them is why Andie has improved so much,” Jones said.
Coach Jones emphasized that Meise has not only improved as a swimmer in her years as a demon but also as a leader.
“Andie has developed into a great team leader, as our Junior Girls’ captain she is always instilling great values into our underclassmen,” Jones said.
Meise attributed a lot of her growth as a swimmer and as a team leader to senior teammate Grace Manning.
“Grace has really taught me a lot about swimming and how to lead and always be positive around younger teammates,” Meise said. “she has really been a great role model for me.”
Meise has high hopes for both herself and her teammates this season, setting her goals to qualify for the state championship on a relay and setting the team goal to making a title run at the Central Piedmont Conference meet.
“The girls team will be really good this year because we have a lot of really talented freshmen and Sophomores swimmers coming in to support our upperclassmen swimmers,” Meise said. “With the talent we have we can definitely make a run at the conference championship.”