by Eric Martinez | staff writer
Swim season is underway with the first two swim meets come and gone. About sixty students on the team are competing this season, balancing team with individual goals.
“I’m really trying to go for state this year. I want to go to regionals at least this season, but I hope I can make it state,” sophomore Pablo Arias said
With everyone’s personal goals driving them to be better, coach Jesse Snelson is confident about the swim season.
“I think in district we’re set pretty well. If we can keep everybody healthy and keep grades up and keep going to practice we will do just fine,” Snelson said
Some of the more notable swim meets are the Brandeis and Churchill Double meet on Oct.19, TISCA (Texas International Swim Coaches Associations) on Nov. 13 and Dec.1, and districts and regionals in January. Districts and TISCA are both happening at the Josh Davis Natatorium this year.
“It’s always an interesting game to see who pushes each other and themselves to get better and the results are amazing every year. Some of the guys that start out pretty rough by the end of the year are much improved. Even some of our eight period swimmers I expect big things from. And I think it will be a successful year,” Snelson said.
The new members of the team are adjusting to the high school level competition. They aren’t just improving, but contributing to the swim team. Most of the swimmers have been placing in 2nd or 3rd for most of the swimming events.
“I think our girls team is looking really good this year. I got a bunch of young boys coming on the team that are swimming varsity that I think will do well. The harder you work the faster you go,” Snelson said
An obstacle for the swim team this year is their rival Reagan. Despite the competition of Reagan, the team has gone to regionals every year it has been competing.
“[Reagan] has a number of good swimmers. There is a tendency for really good swimmers to look for a place that has a good record and they go swim there [at Reagan]. They also got a bunch of feeder programs as far as there summer league programs and there’s a lot of competitive size pools for summer league programs in that area. We are a very competitive district which makes us better,” Snelson said
