Program Buoys Mountaineers

Even competitive swimmers spend more time on land than in water, so dry-land training is an important aspect of any competitor’s development.

The Ephrata swim team takes dryland training so seriously, the Mounts don’t just use weights and resistance bands. They make sure they are learning from the most successful in the sport while working out.

Two-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist Katie Hoff Anderson has partnered with Ephrata through her Synergy Dryland program. Anderson is not there in person at Ephrata, but she does consult with head coach Mickey Molchany and Ephrata’s staff regularly through Zoom to refine the workouts for the swimmers’ needs.

Anderson said, via email, that there are some aspects of dryland training that high schoolers sometimes miss, which she tries to emphasize in her program.

“Mobility and stability are very lacking in most programs,” Anderson said. “It’s one of the first aspects to be neglected but makes the biggest difference since swimming calls for very specific ranges of motion.”

That focus on the motions that connect to swimming, rather than just general strength training for any athlete, was part of what attracted Ephrata to the program.

“We finish off with a strength circuit, where the moves work the areas that benefit swimming,” Molchany said. “It’s nice that they have more grounding in strength and conditioning. We don’t have kids complaining of shoulder pain. It’s nice to see them keep their strength in those areas.”

Of course, it is also gratifying to see swimmers improve times and get better places in meets as a result of the dryland program. It is difficult to say how many seconds might be dropped by the program, but the Ephrata coaches can see stronger motions while the Mounts are in competition.

“We’re not tired,” Molchany said. “Our kids are not dying off at the end of races. We feel a lot of that comes from the strength training.”

Among those who may be benefiting from the program are Ava Knopsnyder and Bria Burkholder.

Knopsnyder, a sophomore, recently set a school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a 58.88. Burkholder, another sophomore who started this season recovering from a right shoulder injury and subsequent surgery, has steadily improved, and won both the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke against Conestoga Valley on Thursday.

Anderson will continue to check in on Ephrata as she takes the Mounts through various phases of her program.

“We come in and do assessments at the start of the program, which includes range of motion analysis, force plate testing which tests power in different jumps and planes of motion and a few performance indicators,” Anderson said. “This allows us to truly customize the correctives and direction of each program. I would say this allows us to create a level of precision in our customization that is rare for high school level swimmers.”

Hoff won the silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle in the 2008 Olympic games. She also won bronzes in the 400 IM and the 800 free relay at the same Olympiad in Beijing.

Synergy Dryland, which is headquartered in Michigan, currently partners with 10 high school programs across the country.

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