The water in the Seymour High School pool didn’t stand still for three hours, six minutes and 20 seconds in the early hours of New Year’s Eve.

When one 100-yard leg reached completion, the next started within 60 seconds.

In total, each of the 48 swimmers was required to do a minimum 100 of those 100s.

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Some of the top swimmers decided to do an extra 10 100s.

While many of their peers slept in, the Owls swimming and diving team went to work, starting with stretching at 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Annually, the team ends the year with its toughest workout of the season.

Those 10,000 yards in the pool equal out to 5.68 miles. The 11,000-yard swimmers hit 6.25 miles just in the water.

Studies have equated one mile of swimming to four miles running on dry land.

Owls head swimming coach Dave Boggs, who is in his 42nd season at the helm, said the workout is a team tradition.

“We have always done it on New Year’s Eve for as long as I remember,” Boggs said. “Usually, with swimmers during Christmas breaks, you hike up the yardage and time. This is kind of the peak right now of our training. This is the toughest workout we will do all season. I would say this our most memorable workout. After they do this, they walk out saying they have a sense of accomplishment.”

Boggs has the workout down to a science. He pre-sets the times on the board and has the workout laminated and posted at the end of each lane, so the swimmers go nonstop.

“The way we do it, we break it down,” Boggs said. “Some other teams will do 100 100s and just say ‘go.’ Ours is that distance but is broken down from warmup to cooldown with and without equipment. It has a lot of variety, which I think is good.”

The swimmers do a variety of strokes in the workout. Sometimes, they use paddle boards, and during some segments get to choose between which strokes they want to work on.

Following the swim, freshman Maren McClure said it was the furthest she has ever swam.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” she said. “I tried as hard as I could because I know that it will help me perform better in meets. I feel pretty tired, but I feel really accomplished that we got through it. I looked around and saw everyone giving their all. That’s the kind of thing that will make us better as a team.”

Senior Dalton Polley upped the ante in his final New Year’s Eve practice with the program. He was one of five to attempt the 11,000, which was more yards in shorter intervals.

“I wanted to go out with a bang, so I did 10 more than I usually do,” Polley said. “On a caloric basis, it’s about the same as running a marathon. It was fun. I’m glad we do it.

“I tell (the underclassmen) that it’s really, really hard, but it’s worth it. It’s something you can take later in life with you. If you can do this, you can do anything. These are my best friends. We get through everything together and work our hardest.”

All of the swimmers said that it’s both a mental and physical challenge.

“You hear every sport say that every sport is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. I truly believe that this sport is 99 percent mental and 1 percent physical,” Owls junior Trevor Layne said. “I constantly need to tell myself I can do it.”

Senior Dillon Polley echoed Layne.

“I think the mental side applies here,” he said. “You watch your opponents at a sectional or conference meet, and they are laughing and joking around, but they win. I feel like the more fun you have, the better you will do. However, if you overthink, you will perform terribly. I think that’s where our strength comes in. We are closer than we have ever been. We’re having fun and not always noticing how hard the workouts are.”

For sophomore Eduardo Zarate, the workout represents the end and start of the year.

“You kind of always look forward to it,” Zarate said. “It represents the end of the year and getting ready for next year. You finish with a hard workout that represents all the hard work you put into the year. Coach has a plan for us, and we follow it through.”

All of the yardage is in preparation for the taper, which allows the swimmers’ time to prepare physically for conference, sectional and state.

“Right now we train together both boys and girls,” Boggs said. “Come Monday morning, we will separate our training. Our taper starts officially on Monday. We will have different tapers for boys and girls in order to peak out at sectionals, which we normally do.”