After an amazing run last season for both boys and girls, WA Swim and Dive is ready to replicate their performance. Led by senior captains Doug Caggiano, Chris Fahlman, Brendan Flaherty, Jeremiah Small, Eloise Andrews, Estella Cui, and Ellie Reuther, the team is excited to improve upon not only their skills, but also their bond with each other and the rest of the team.
The boys’ swim team is coming off of a successful season, winning the state championship. Despite losing many of their top athletes after they graduated, this year’s group is ready to take their place and keep up their winning ways.
The girls came close to winning the state tournament, finishing second. While they didn’t win, they are confident that they can finish in first place this year. Although they also lost some top performers, the team is not too worried about this, knowing that they are more than capable of winning.
The dive team performed well last year, with Small finishing 1st in the DCL tournament for the boys and Reuther finishing 13th for the girls. Though the team is small this year, with only four members, this is normal for dive teams.
While the main goal is to win states, each swimmer and diver also has their own personal goals and records to beat. This not only becomes friendly competition for them to try to beat their teammates, but it is also a way in which they push themselves to be the best they can be.
“If someone who does the same event as you gets a faster time than you, you want to work to be as fast as them or beat them,” Flaherty said.
There are a lot of new swimmers this year for both the boys’ and girls’ teams, which allows the teams to regain the depth that they lost with last year’s senior class. It requires hard work and dedication, but it can help lead to success at the big meets at the end of the season.
“A lot of our depth came from having eight seniors who qualified for States last season in almost every event, [which enabled us to] place first and second in a lot of races,” Fahlman said. “This year, we have a good amount of swimmers who can still win their events, but unlike last season, we are looking for underclassmen to step up to score points at dual and champion meets to help the team win.”
A team’s depth plays an important role at meets, as it eventually determines who wins and who loses.
“If you have one swimmer that’s super fast and they finish first, it doesn’t matter if the rest of the team doesn’t do that well,” Caggiano said. “You need the depth to perform.”
Despite there being separation on paper between the divisions they compete in, the boys’ and girls’ teams are truly one team. Before each meet, someone hosts a SPAG to promote team bonding, which plays a huge role for the team.
“It’s a fun way to connect with anybody on the team, even those who you aren’t really friends with,” Flaherty said.
Swimming and diving are extremely competitive sports with many teams in the DCL all capable of winning the championship. However, this inspires WA to want to work harder to improve as much as they can.
“[We keep our training] relatively consistent,” Cui said. “We work hard on the things that will benefit us the most.”
Tryouts will be held on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 at Westfit from 2:30-4:00.
