It may be cold outside, but for the boys and girls varsity swimmers and divers, it’s perfect weather for laps around the pool.
The season up to this point for both varsity swimming and diving teams has been quite solid. The boys team holds a record of 5-3, including a second-place finish among seven teams in the Kingswood Oxford Invitational Swimming tournament, and the girls team yields a 3-4 record at this point in the season.
On Wednesday, Jan. 12, the swimming teams held a virtual swim meet against Northfield Mount Hermon School. Girls Head Coach Kata Baker discussed how virtual swim meets work. “What we do for virtual meets is take our results, fuse them together, and see how they would’ve laid out,” Coach Baker said. Coach Baker also mentioned how despite the circumstances not being ideal, the experience was good for the teams. “A lot of people did events they never did before,” Coach Baker said. “It was successful in terms of each individual challenging themselves and making some progress.”
Another virtual meet was held against Suffield Academy on Wednesday, Jan. 19; however, it was more of a practice meet, as the scores weren’t counted or put on their records. Boys Head Coach Alex Kraus noted how the team improved from this event. “It was a good improvement for the team, as a lot of young, inexperienced players were learning new events and trying them out,” Coach Kraus said.
Throughout the season, the boys team has seen some incredible efforts from individual swimmers and divers, as they have two KO record holders: sophomore Damian Czartoryjski, who has set the record in the individual medley twice and has set the record in the 200m freestyle, and junior Co-captain Eli Brandt, who set the six-dive diving record. In the meet against Williston on Friday, Jan. 28, Brandt set a KO record and Williston pool record for six dives with 298.36 points.
On the girls swimming and diving team, Coach Baker mentioned a few swimmers and divers who have stood out this season. Senior Co-captains Allie Wildstein and Stella Reisinger were highlighted as being versatile swimmers and excellent leaders on the pool deck. Coach Baker also mentioned some of the young swimmers on the team, including freshman Miya Scranton who does well in the breaststroke and freestyle events, freshman Makenzie Gallagher who excels in the shorter freestyle events, and sophomore Maggie Poulin who found success in her first 500m freestyle against Northfield Mount Hermon School.
Both Coach Kraus and Coach Baker noted the challenges of fostering a good team chemistry, especially with the constant switching of pools and lack of downtime during practices; however, the team is still able to stick through these challenges together and support one another during meets.
The swim teams will continue their seasons with meets against St. George’s School on Feb. 5 and Westminster School on Feb. 9.
