Twins Dalton and Dillon Polley decided early in their swimming careers to cheer each other on rather than trying to outdo each another in the water.

Both began swimming in Seymour at a young age and are now in their senior seasons in the Owls’ program.

“I most enjoy being with the team and the energy they provide,” Dillon said. “It’s a really good team this year, better than the other years I have swam with them because we’re all so close and we’re all such good friends. I love these guys.”

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He said while they swim the same events in some meets, he and his brother have matured past the family competition they had when they were younger.

“At sectional the past two years, we’ve both swam the 200 free and the 500 free,” Dalton said. “Sometimes, I’ll swim the 50 and 100 at meets, and he’ll do the long distance.”

Dillon said during practice, he follows his brother.

“I mostly follow behind him in everything that we do because we’re both in the same lane, so he just sprints during the whole practice, and I follow,” he said.

During the school day, the twins have different schedules.

“I feel like Saturday meets have always been better for me because I’m not as exhausted from a day at school. My schedule this year is pretty hard,” Dalton said.

Dillon does an internship at Cummins, and his schedule isn’t as demanding as that of his brother.

The swim teams have morning practices on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

“It’s exhausting by the end of the week,” Dalton said. “Some weeks at that Friday morning practice, it’s almost like I can’t swim, it hurts that much. That’s the same feeling I feel when I’m sprinting, like one of my longer events, like a 200 or a 500, so I know I have to push past that at a practice. That’s what normally helps, pushing past that every day.”

Dillon said the practices are pretty hard.

“I mostly work on my starts because I’m really slow off my starts, so the coaches are really good at working with me on them and making sure I get better every single day at it,” he said. “I like sprinting off the block and getting a head start against everyone else.”

The boys enjoy the fan support at the home meets.

“It feels like my home ground, and you feel the energy of everyone there, and it’s a lot of familiar faces and all the color and everything,” Dillon said.

Dalton said it’s a rush to swim at Seymour High School.

“I can’t normally hear the crowds when I’m swimming,” he said. “Whenever I’m swimming, whether it be in the home pool or another pool, I normally just go blank, so things like crowd or people yelling at me I won’t normally notice unless it’s a coach screaming for me. You always hear Dave (Boggs) because he has a clipboard and he’s screaming.

“The home pool feels more comfortable than away pools, but during your career, you learn to adapt to away pools. Sometimes, the water is colder, but you get used to it during warmups, and I’d also say the walls are weird.”

Both have been involved in the summer program at the Shields Park Pool.

“The long course is really different because you go from short course, which in a 100 you would get three flip turns in,” Dillon said. “You push off the wall and collide more than you’d be swimming in the long course.”

Both of them feel the taper is important.

“During the weeks of the normal season, coach Dennis (Bowers) and coach Dave are really good at breaking us down and making us making sure we are always constantly sore,” Dalton said. “Even when you’re trying to get work done at school, you’re sore. The taper, your body is so full of energy because we take back our weights, we take back yardage and all that sort of stuff, and we’re so much faster by the end of it.”

Dillon said the water is a place he’s most comfortable.

“The water is really good for me” he said. “What I’ve always enjoyed about it is you’ll jump in, and unlike other sports, you can’t sit there and talk to your teammates, so they can’t give you any motivations or talk you through the harder workouts. It’s just complete silence in the water, and you have to learn how to mentally focus to get yourself through these things.

“It’s kind of like meditation because it’s two hours of just pure focus while you’re in the water by yourself motivating yourself, so it’s a lot of mental work, too, more than other sports.”

Dalton feels that hard work leads to success in swimming.

“For swimming, you have to be really self-motivated to do well, which is one of the hardest things ever,” Dalton said. “I know during taper time, a lot of them have their best times, and there is no one there to pat you on the back and tell you that it’s going to be OK and you’re going to better. You just have to keep swimming your hardest and trust the process.”