SHAKOPEE, Minn. — The Shakopee Sabers women’s swimming and diving team competes in an incredibly tough conference, competing against powerhouses like Prior Lake, Eagan and Lakeville North and South.

Yet for the first time in 37 years, they emerged as conference champions.

“It was a crazy accomplishment for all of us,” said Arianna Zelen, one of the team’s four senior captains.

The team spends nearly 20 hours a week together training and competing, which creates an important bond, which they attribute to their success.

“It’s been so much fun to see how much this team has grown over the years,” senior captain Abby Beckman said.

Another element of their recipe for success is the team’s physicality.

“We lift three times a week in the morning,” senior captain Olivia Wimberger said.

“You can physically see how much stronger they have become, and the results in the pool show that too,” said head coach Jenny Carlson.

The final ingredient to their success this season is their sportsmanship, which Carlson said was developed long before this team won.

“The first year I was coaching, we didn’t have a single swim meet in a decade, and I kind of approached (the team) and said, ‘Look, we’re not known as the fastest in our conference, but let’s be known.’ as being the nicest, friendliest, most fun to swim against,’ and they really rose to that challenge and as we continued to build success, they kept that going,” Carlson said.

Carlson’s mother, Kathy, started the Shakopee swimming and diving program in 1979, and she coached the team the last time they won the conference in 1987. Today, her daughter helps carry on the legacy of his mother in creating a team as close as family, and the captains hope their leadership will leave its own mark.

“I hope all the young girls really admire what we have done this year, especially the way the four of us, and try to strive for the same, or even more, even better,” said Elizabeth Leisure, captain senior.