Standing on the deck of the Kinney Natatorium on Bucknell’s campus, a young girl, barely able to swim, was frozen in awe as she stood in front of the nearly see-through waters of the pool.

Years later that little girl would become one of the premier swimmers on Lewisburg’s roster. At the same pool, standing in almost the same spot, Lauren Michaels was honored by her fellow swimmers. She has had success in the pool. She’s also been an outstanding teammate and friend to everyone on the team throughout her four years of swimming at the high school level.

“It was so scary,” Michaels said. “I was that kid that was trying to swim that couldn’t at all. It’s so weird to look back and realize I was that kid who was scared to jump in the water at all.”

Michaels spent years training and getting her body into shape to improve at swimming. Yes, she learned how to swim, but that wasn’t good enough.

Michaels is a competitor. She is a three-sport athlete at Lewisburg and will be swimming next year at West Chester University. She thrives on competition. She didn’t want to learn how to swim; she wanted to learn how to compete against the bigger kids in the pool.

“It has been such an amazing experience,” Michaels said. “To see where I’ve come from and to be able to finish where I started. I couldn’t be any happier than I am now.”

Along with honoring Michaels, the Lewisburg swimmers honored all their seniors, but they also took time to honor Jersey Shore’s swimmers. The act is customary on Senior Night.

What stood out was the lengths the Lewisburg swimmers went to include everyone in the night. Selinsgrove’s Sarah Fravel, who swims as an independent, looked surprised when her name was called, and the Lewisburg swimmers gave her a gift bag.

“I don’t have a team, but I know a lot of kids from Lewisburg,” Fravel said. “I cheer for them and consider them my team. They kind of adopted me to their team. It’s really nice to be able to work with them and train with them.”

Fravel accepted her bag but was quick to support the other seniors as they swam in their last home meet of the season. With any luck, most of them will be back at the Natatorium competing in States.

It was a bittersweet moment for the swimmers as they lined the deck underneath the scoreboard for one final farewell.

“I’ve known these people for more than four years,” Fravel said. “It’s really special to get to celebrate with them and be here and cheer them on.”