Darby Mott, a senior varsity swimmer, has struggled this season with health complications. Right before the school year started, Mott was diagnosed with an ovarian torsion (cyst).

“At first, they thought my appendix burst, but after a CT scan, they realized that I had a cyst on my left ovary the size of a softball,” Mott explained.

She waited almost four hours before they could approve her for surgery. Mott was out of practice for weeks. While she was out, Coach Rob Serviss gathered the varsity team for a picture to send to Mott. Everyone on the team missed seeing her every day.

“Darby has been a great friend and I’ve loved swimming with her these last four years. Seeing her go through this is so hard because she has so much potential and I hated seeing her struggle,” Makenna Thuringer said.

Swimming for nearly her entire life, she takes the sport very seriously and sets her goals high. In previous years with the team, she’s qualified for state in relays. This year has been no different.

On October 5, at a meet against Jackson and Monroe, Mott was swimming the 500 freestyle.

“Right around 200 yards, pain started shooting down my legs. I couldn’t kick so I started pulling for the remainder of the race,” Mott said. When she touched the wall, finishing the event, Mott burst into tears.

“I couldn’t get out of the pool. Coach Rob was asking me if I was okay and if I could keep going,” Mott said.

She still had two more events, the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay. The coach recommended that she try the 200 free relay and see how she felt afterwards.

The event was so physically demanding that she couldn’t participate in the last relay and the coach had to shift the entire lineup for the event.

“Rob is really supportive about the whole thing, but I still felt really bad because I don’t want to let him down,” Mott said.