Cole Parker, Libby Dawson given the Royal treatment on Senior Day

When the Delmarva Christian swim teams welcomed Nandua Jan. 31, the Royals also bid farewell to their two seniors.

Cole Parker and Libby Dawson swam their final dual-meet laps of the season during the meet, but beforehand were honored alongside their families and friends.

“It's been amazing,” Parker said. “It was awesome to see everybody here setting up all that. It was just great for Libby too. She's been here for four years, and that was amazing for her. I think we both just appreciated the team and what the coaches put in for all of it.”

“I actually started tearing up a little bit,” Dawson said. “I'm gonna miss it, miss the people, and I'm gonna miss the sport. It definitely is bittersweet.”

Dawson’s mom, Anne Mahan, previously coached the Royals and still helps out at meets. The two have worked hard to shed light on swimming at Delmarva Christian, which may be small, but has state-qualifying talent on both teams.

“Numbers are a big thing for us,” said coach Brooke Ogden. “Our talent is here, numbers necessarily aren't.”

The small numbers may not help the first-year coach’s teams rack up points against bigger squads, but it allows for more bonding between swimmers.

“We get so close super fast,” Dawson said.

Dawson and Parker, as the team’s elders, also made sure their new coaches were woven into the team fabric seamlessly.

“With coach Laurel [Kamosa] and I coming in for our first season, we wanted to make sure that we had seniors that were able to kind of help out and guide the team with leadership,” Ogden said. “Libby stepped up, Cole stepped up, and they helped us come in. They welcomed us and were two big components of the team, not only swimming wise, but also just helping us get acclimated.”

Despite being a smaller school, Nandua had a lot of swimmers, propelling the visitors to a 95-47 victory over the boys and a 116-29 win over the girls. While they would’ve preferred a win, the Royals judge themselves by individual progress, and with the season coming to a close, the swimmers seem to be hitting their stroke.

“We have such a positive team,” Ogden said. “They're all dropping times, [and] they're all willing to come to practice and put in the work outside of our two weekly practices.”