Southside freshman Darah Cole holds two Southside swimming records after competing in her first high school meet on Wednesday.

Cole became the first swimmer to compete under the Seahawks banner on Wednesday. After spending much of her life swimming for the year-round East Carolina Aquatics team, Cole decided that she wanted to compete at the high school level.

“Darah has been swimming with the year-round squad since she was young,” coach Spencer Pake said. “She’s just been part of the family. She knows all the Washington swimmers. She got in high school this year, so we went through the motions and started a team for her. She’s excited. … We’re really happy for her and for Southside.”

Unfortunately, Southside didn’t have a swim team. It wasn’t much of a problem, though. Cole has spent a lot of time under the tutelage of ECA coach Scott Pake, whose brother Spencer Pake leads the Washington swim team.

The Southside administration was able to get the ball rolling to let Cole practice with the Pam Pack, but swim for Southside.

“I had to talk to the principal about it and get it approved by the board,” Cole said. “I’m not sure, but they may have gone to the state board. I had to talk to the athletic director. That’s about it.”

Cole finished third in both events she competed in. That earned Southside eight points — its first ever — and was actually enough to finish ahead of Farmville Central, which only earned one point.

She said that the backstroke and IM — the two events she competed in on Wednesday — are her favorites.

“It was fun, kind of hectic,” Cole said of her first meet.

The pair of third-place finishes were impressive considering the talent that Cole competed against. Pake has high hopes for the Lady Pack swimmers this season. Besides them, Cole went head-to-head with 4-A competitors from Conley and South Central. The Lady Vikings proved to be dominant in their 166-point showing. Washington finished behind them with 59 points.

The four swimmers that edged Cole between her two events were all from those 4-A schools. The two that beat out Cole in the 200-yard IM were both Conley representatives. In the 100-yard backstroke, swimmers from South Central and Conley finished ahead of her.

“I was told that it would be a big team. It was a lot bigger than I thought it’d be,” she said.

Cole was able to jump right into high school competition not only because of her swimming background, but also because of her relationships with the Washington swimmers. She knows a lot of them from the ECA team.

“Basically, almost all of the seniors are like brothers to me,” Cole said. “I swam with them for as long as I can remember. A few of the sophomores I know because I swam with them in ECA, too.”

With her first meet behind her, Cole is focusing on improving as the season goes on. She’s setting the standard for Southside swimming, so she said she wants to break her own year-round swimming records by the end of the campaign.

And to have fun doing so.