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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

March Crossword Key
March 6, 2024

Swimming dives into NCS after a successful season

Swimming+dives+into+NCS+after+a+successful+season

This season, the swim team benefitted from a bigger, continuously strong varsity women’s team that placed third at WACC on May 7, a new JV women’s team and a larger varsity men’s team.

The women’s varsity team’s roster boasts 21 swimmers, the girl’s JV 13 first-year swimmers and the men’s varsity 10 swimmers.

The varsity women have only lost one meet game this season, against Alameda, making their record 7-1.

“Varsity girls have always been really, really amazing,” team captain senior Olivia Arrabit said.

After swimming at WACC, senior Sophie Reynolds, senior Kelsey Fennell, junior Skyler Liu, junior Alisha Lewis and freshman Sasha Liu, got to swim at NCS on May 13 and 14. Still, swim team coach Colby Price that he was slightly dissapointed with the results.

Women’s varsity swimming placed third in the WACC league. The varsity women’s team only lost to Alameda this season with a record of 7-1.
Women’s varsity swimming placed third in the WACC league. The varsity women’s team only lost to Alameda this season with a record of 7-1.

“We really didn’t know what the competition was really like,” Price said. “But a lot of people dropped time, even seniors.”

Last year, the men’s varsity team was so small that if one boy was missing, they would not be able to field a four-person relay team at meets. The addition of five new players has helped this problem, but not solved it.

“We’re losing the meets not because we’re coming in last, it’s because we just don’t have enough people,” said three-year varsity men’s swimmer junior Nick Pacult. “So we’ll get first, but everybody else will get second, third, fourth and fifth and all those points outscore ours.”

This season, Pacult said a stand-out event for him was Senior Night, which brought a record number of people to the pool on April 28. Most swim meets attract very few spectators, so the heavy attendance made this meet feel special.

“That meet was just really fun, and that’s what swimming should be: it’s just a way to let loose and have fun,” Pacult said. “It was a hot day too, so it was nice to be in the water.”

In addition to a core of long-time dedicated swimmers on the women’s varsity team, Fennell and sophomore Annika Disney both play water polo year-round in addition to swimming, and sometimes even have back-to-back practices.

“It’s really fun being with a bunch of people that are so dedicated to swimming,” Arrabit said. “I’ve been swimming with some of them since fifth grade and it’s so incredible to see how much they’ve grown as people and as swimmers. It’s so inspiring seeing the passion and the dedication they have for this sport.”

While Arrabit respects her ultra-dedicated teammates, she also likes that there is room on the team for less-experienced swimmers.

“We’re a chill team,” Arrabit said. “You can be super serious about swimming, but you can also be here to stay in shape or have fun and people won’t get mad of you for that. You can be on both sides of the spectrum and still have so much fun.”

Overall, the influx of new blood was beneficial for the team and its dynamic, Arrabit said.

“This year has been the greatest swim season of my life,” Arrabit said. “I feel like the team is a lot more bonded this year than past years too.”

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