The girls swim team clocked in for a stellar 2025-26 season filled with broken records, individual medals and state qualifications. Official training began on August 12, with daily practices and weekly meets taking place until early November. With a small team of only 10 athletes and a senior class of only three, six girls qualified to compete at the WIAA state competition on Nov. 14. Cheyenne Borroughs won both the 200 IM and the 100 Breaststroke, an event she’s dominated two years in a row. The 200 Free and 200 Medley Relays, made up of senior Cheyenne Borroughs, senior Ainsley Gerard, sophomore Jenna Rotar and senior Abigail Schmidt, both placed 14th overall to round out a great meet.
“We were hoping to get three relays to state and maybe a couple more individuals, so not quite there, but I still think we did a wonderful job,” said fifth-year head coach Heather Solis. “They really worked hard and I feel like we did really well.”
This was the fourth straight year that Borroughs competed individually at state and she also co-captained the team alongside Ainsley Gerard.
“My high school team, I think they have a lot of faith in me and they support me. And our small swim community of Stoughton is really supportive. I mean, there’s a lot of little kids who kind of recognize me from getting interviewed in the paper. I don’t think anyone knows how much that means. It feels so nice because I feel like swim is an underrated sport sometimes…it doesn’t get as much recognition,” Borroughs said.
The team prioritized in-pool training six times a week during the season, a unique aspect of the sport that sets it apart. Because swimming is a low-impact sport, athletes can spend more time engaging in higher-intensity training as the water puts less impact on the body than in other activities such as weightlifting.
“We did Monday morning practices and Friday morning practices for about an hour. Then we had two hour practices on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday we did two hours and 15 minutes, and then we had three-hour practices on Saturdays. Some of those Tuesdays and Saturdays we had a meet, so those days we wouldn’t practice…they always got Sundays off,” Solis said.
In order for the team to best support Borroughs on her bid for another state championship and qualify two relays, communication with coaches was key to creating a training regimen to challenge and improve every swimmer at the individual level.
“We typically talk to each of the girls, and we try to make sure that they feel challenged. So with Cheyenne, we always were open about communication with her, and she would let us know, ‘I feel like I need to be a little bit more challenged.’ We’re like, all right, we can write sets to challenge you a little bit more, ‘How are you feeling now?’” Solis said.
Even as the season comes to a close, practice will not stop for Borroughs and a number of her teammates as they begin club training to continue to improve times.
“I swam at VAST (Verona Area Swim Team) for these last five years, and I would go right from usually high school season into, again, like eight or nine months of training with club all throughout the winter and summer and spring. Now I’m swimming with McFarland Spartan sharks,” Borroughs said. “That was hard to balance sometimes, but you figure it out. I would just use my Google calendar and have my checklist…my Saturdays and Sundays were definitely reserved for schoolwork, but during the week, some things just had to be sacrificed a little bit.”
As the team looks to the future of SHS girls swim, returning swimmers and coaches are optimistic about a period of regrowth and getting more girls involved.
“The overall culture of the team, I think, is what kind of builds each year. We’re gonna be sad to miss our three seniors, absolutely. But I feel like they’ve left a mark on the team that will continue through the years,” Solis said.
Borroughs attributes her high school success to the support of her family and coaches throughout her swimming career. She will continue her swimming career at the University of Iowa next fall.
“[The recruiting process] was really stressful. I am so glad with my choice, I love the University of Iowa so much. The coaching staff there and all my future teammates, I’m really excited. They have great resources not only in the pool but outside of the pool. It is a Big Ten school, so academically and athletically, they have the resources.”
Overall, this season was one for the history books and will leave a lasting impression on the SHS athletics department thanks to the athletes’ and coaches’ hard work.
“I have to remember the reason why I started swimming in the first place…you know, I love it. Let’s have fun with it. Not only winning, just kind of being there,” Borroughs said.
