The shrill of the whistle sounds as sophomore Ben Matyas dives into the water. He focuses on getting his best time yet in the 50 free, his main event.
Last year, the boys and girls teams came second, behind Oakton High School in the district tournament. This year they’re on track for a similar season. The boys on Jan. 23 last swim meet resulted in a victory with the score of 241-66. The girls team also won this meet, with a 213-86 against Meridian High School.
“It was a good win for us,” Matyas said. “We can’t be too happy though, we have to work hard and get back to where we were last year and hopefully win districts this time.”
The boys and girls team both swim at the same place for each meet. Both teams have had success lately. Junior swim team member Allie Farello, believes concentration is key to the team’s success.
“We have a strong team this year, but we need to stay focused,” Farello said. “I want to improve from last year; hopefully, I can qualify individually for regionals because I barely missed last year”
Farello, who has been on the team for two years, is striving for a new personal best in her main event, the 100 butterfly. Coach James Mackenzie feels very good about this year because of how hungry everyone is individually.
“We’ve had a strong start to the season which I’m happy about,” Mackenzie said. “I’m pretty confident in our team this year, everyone is eager to get better and our practices have been intense.”
Mackenzie emphasizes the importance of every swimmer on the team, and not just the swimmers who are getting first.
“I’ve always said that meets are won with third, fourth and fifth places.” Mackenzie said “Everybody on the team needs to be doing everything they can to get a new personal best”
The team just finished their district competitions on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, the boys team completed their goal placing first in the district. The girls team did not have the same success, placing fifth in the district although Farello accomplished her goal with a new personal best of 1:05.10.
