The boys varsity swimming team is off to an undefeated 4-0 record in its league as of press time.
The team is led by captains seniors James Christiansen-Salameh, Scott Stephens and Adlai Katzenburg. It also has a new coaching staff, which consists of Cindy McColl and her son Connor McColl, ’05, who is currently a graduate student at Stanford University. Both have been on Stanford swimming teams.
“This season under our new coaches has been going pretty well,” junior Andrew Nguyen said. “We have been winning each of our meets, including the very close one against Mountain View.”
Andrew attributes the team’s success to skill-focused practices.
“Instead of focusing on yardage, having us crank thousands of yards each workout, [the coaches] focus on improving our strokes and techniques every day,” Andrew said. “Their expertise in each of the strokes and other knowledge in the sport of swimming have taught us how to swim more properly and efficiently.”
The team has currently been dominating competition in the El Camino League. The boys swimming team moved down from the De Anza League two years ago. In order to move back up to the De Anza League, the team needs to win the league for two consecutive years. The team is well on its way to returning to the higher league since it won the league last year and looks to repeat its success this year.
Members of the boys swimming team feel that they are currently doing well. However, they also express thirst for more competition.
“We’re not in a tough league,” junior Colin Mulcahy said. “So we just kill everybody.”
There are several strong swimmers on the team, with senior Adlai Katzenburg as one of the top 500 swimmers in the league. Other strong performances on the team include those of Scott in the 200 free and 100 back, Andrew in the 100 breast and 200 individual medley, James in the 100 fly and Colin in the 100 free.
With Scott and Adlai already qualifying in their main events, the team is looking to continue its winning streak and show a strong performance in CCS.
