After three years of all sorts of abnormalities, the boys and girls swimming and diving program is beginning to return to what can be considered a normal season.
Leading the team are Senior Co-captains Aidan Ladewig and Eli Brandt, senior Co-captain Charlotte Eberle, and junior Co-captain Maggie Poulin for the boys and girls teams respectively. With the new addition of Assistant Coach Emma Johnson, the team is looking at a wide range of experience and abilities in swimming. “Everyone has different goals in terms of what they’re working on, whether continuing endurance building or learning basic skills,” Girls Head Coach Kata Baker said.
With over two weeks of the season already under their belt, the team has established some goals for the remainder of the season. Boys Head Coach Alex Kraus has highlighted working on the conditioning of swimmers, as well as seeing what the swimmers’ capabilities are in each of the strokes. Their first meet was on Wednesday, Nov. 30, against Hopkins School. Both the boys swam strongly and lost with a score of 100-73 for the boys, and 97-71 for the girls. The team swam again against Wilbraham and Monson Academy on Dec. 3. The boys won with a score of 94-64. The girls won as well with a very close score of 80-78.
“Every season the team has to kind of reintroduce itself,” Coach Kraus said. “The various relationships we had from last year don’t always carry over.” Coach Kraus noted junior Damian Czartoryjski, who is a strong swimmer, and Brandt, who is a skilled diver. Coach Baker noted the large pool of young swimmers on the team, as well as the veterans for both teams.
Highlighted swimmers include freshman Daniel Grigorian who swims for a club team, as well as freshmen Sofia Anastasio-Villa and Ava Bonsignore. She also noted sophomores Eudel Ma, Miya Scranton, Mackenzie Gallagher, and Sydney Parker, as well as juniors Leo Zhang, Poulin, senior Mason Zimmer, and Eberle who add a nice depth to the program.
Major events that the team is looking forward to this year include the Kingswood Oxford Swim and Dive Invitational, as well as the championship season.
With the decrease in COVID-19, there are much more opportunities to practice this season. “Last season was totally wacky,” Coach Baker said. “We were baffled as we were in so many different pools wearing masks. I think what I took from that season is that we can still do it in the middle of things. Kids can still have the best times in high school and can still learn skills they didn’t learn before, which just gives me a huge amount of excitement this year because we don’t have nearly as many obstacles as we had last year.”
For the first time in three years, the team will be going down to Orlando, Fla. for their annual training trip during the second half of the winter break. The team will be able to work on their skills and conditioning, as well as become closer as a team.
The team, especially the newcomers, are still getting accustomed to the style of the sport during practices and will hopefully learn something new each day going forward. Both coaches noted that something that the team does well is making the new team members feel welcome. “I think the upperclassmen are usually really good at being inclusive of the younger kids,” Coach Baker said, “You get some incredibly rich team culture, and everyone kind of feels like they can be a part of it, regardless of their skill level.”
With the KO Invitationals in a week, the team is about to kick start their season. We wish them the best of luck and look forward to watching them for the rest of the season!
