Boys’ swim (1-0) and girls’ swim (1-0) won against Woodbridge High with a point total of 189-149, dominating the Warriors across all levels of competition for the first time in history on March 5. They will next swim at an away meet against Sage Hill and Laguna Beach High on March 19.
This win can be credited to the strong team spirit and collective resilience of the team despite the unideal weather conditions, according to head coach Steven Riches. Additionally, a select number of exceptional swimmers and successful practices also benefited the overall victory, according to varsity swimmer and senior Giselle Lu.
“Aside from the fact that it’s raining, they’re performing really well, so they all stepped up to it,” Riches said. “They all came today, so the rain didn’t discourage them. They’re all trying real hard and they’re swimming some really good times.”
The team entered the pool with strong dives and turns, which all contributed to increased the speed of the swimmers. Nearing the end of the meet, the girls’ 400-yard freestyle relay pulled the team two points ahead of the Warriors, securing the girls’ victory for the Bulldogs, according to Lu. Lu said the coach’s strategic placement of swimmers in their strongest event allowed the Bulldogs to maintain a steady lead over the Warriors, consistently outpacing them with higher scores throughout the competition.
“Our coach definitely played a good role in this because we have a pentathlon where we swim all the events, and our coaches see each person’s strengths and weaknesses,” Lu said. “When they signed us up for our events, they strategically put us in the events that they knew would benefit the school’s overall victory.”
Beyond team collaboration, entering with the right mindset before a meet is key to a swimmer’s performance, according to captain and senior Luke Porter. To achieve this, emphasis is placed on swimmers visualizing their event prior to competing it, according to Riches.
“[The swimmer] needs to sit down and actually visualize what [their] event is going to be and how [they’re] going to do it, so they still need to [visualize] their event before they actually swim,” Riches said. “Other than that, we do a lot of breathing exercises to reduce stress.”
This season, the team aims to claim victory in Pacific Coast League finals as they did during the 2023-24 season and win in both CIF and State finals, according to Porter.
“Everyone’s warming up and swimming their events and banking on time,” Porter said. “We’ve got a lot of potential, and we can do very well this year if things keep going the way they are.”
