Girls’ Swimming: Team improves after 1st meet

The whistle sounds. Junior April Khowong steps up to the white diving block along, her heart pounding. The cheers sounding on the other side of the pool sound hollow and tinny, and she stands above the still water, waiting. 

Khowong and the rest of the swim team competed in their first meet of the season on March 13 at Monta Vista, but ultimately lost 126-56. Although the girls were not expecting to win, they looked forward to making a splash into the season.

“We are not the best [in our league] so we weren’t really surprised [by our performance],” Khowong said. “But [the first meet] was actually really fun … as the Monta Vista pool is very nice.”

In order to prepare for the first meet, the girls practiced drills and worked on speed. They also ran through the events in the meet the evening before. 

However, the girls were missing many of their key swimmers, including junior Yayla Sezginer, who was out with a concussion, and normally swims the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle. With so many girls missing because of injuries and the MAP field trip to Los Angeles, the team was at a disadvantage.

Still, regardless of their slow start, the team has hopes for personal improvement over the course of the season. 

The girls’ nest meet took place March 28 at home against Palo Alto. Paly won 102-81.

Overall the girls did better than their last meet as they were able to learn from their mistakes from the first meet.

“I think we improved as a whole. At Monta Vista, some of us freshmen were confused on how high school meets worked. We also cut time on our events, so we’re off to a good start,” said freshman Stefanie Ting.