“Everyone of you guys are here for a reason, for a purpose,” senior swimmer Justin Rothermich roared moments ahead of the Westminster meet. “Now let’s go out there and earn this win, let’s do it for us.”

Before every swim meet, Rothermich gets the team surrounding him and gives them a hype speech to remember while they’re swimming.

“After seeing a lot of great leaders like Russell Wilson and Drew Brees stepping up and getting their boys excited to take the field”, Rothermich said. “I thought, ‘why not’ so I tried it out for the swim team.”

Rothermich realized the team needed something to rally around, after a slow 0-6 start to the season. The three year swim veteran looks to further the team’s goal with his speeches. With few meets left the team looks for a late season push, this might just be exactly what the team needs. Rothermich looks to continue the speeches until state, which is Nov. 11 at the St. Peters Rec Plex.

“It’s fun giving the speeches, getting those boys in the zone, it’s a great experience”, Rothermich said. “I like Kirk Cousins hype speeches, he shows he is a good leader and gets the guys ready for the game, I look to resemble mine in that matter.”

The pre-game hype speeches have become a tradition this year, helping further the teams brotherhood.

“I think the hype speeches are really fun, it helps bring the team together,” junior swimmer Aidan King said. “Him going out on a limb like that, it lets us go out and do our best.”

Rothermich’s hype speech prior to the Vianney meet seemed to work with De Smet, picking up their first win of the season. With the rough start to the season, even the coach thought they needed a boost, but was not sure where to get it.

“The hype speeches are inspirational and I think he really gets the team motivated and geared up to swim hard,” Head Swim Coach Cortivo said. “It has built loads of comradery and the team is really enjoying the speeches.”