On Friday, March 27, the boys and girls swim teams all suffered losses against Gunn High School, which is currently ranked first in the SCVAL league. Despite this, the team is proud of the exceptional performances that took place and is optimistic about future competitions.

Notable highlights include senior Sean Nguyen’s first-place finish in the 100-yard varsity boys freestyle race, clocking in a time of 50.62 seconds. Also notable were junior Samantha Waln’s 2:00.85-minute win in the varsity girls 200-yard freestyle race and junior Analisa Milkey’s second-place finish in the varsity girls 100-yard freestyle race in a time of 58.09 seconds.

When the meet seemed to be off to a slow start, Sean and junior Albert Gwo led the varsity and junior varsity boys in a new team cheer, hoping to increase team spirit.

“For the past two years, the team hasn’t really had a team cheer,” Albert said. “The effects were noticeable as early as warm-up. Everyone made a great effort to get a good warm-up in and focus on the details that help make good swimming great.”

Along with team spirit, the swim team is hoping that its many talented underclassmen will help the team improve over the next few weeks. After some of the team’s key athletes graduated last year, the boys swim team in particular hopes that younger athletes will fill leadership positions.

Some underclassmen, such as sophomore Steven Wong, have already begun to step up. At Friday’s meet, Steven performed exceptionally in both the 200-yard free relay and 400-yard free relay, and is one of the few underclassmen on the varsity team.

“The upperclassmen are few this year, so the future of our swim teams depend on the underclassmen,” Albert said. “The upperclassmen are also working hard to teach the underclassmen and help them improve further on.”