In an away meet, boys’ swim (7-1) and girls’ swim (6-2) won against Irvine High 682-305 in all six levels of performance during their last dual meet of the Pacific Coast League season on April 20. 

The Pacific Coast League Championship finals, where all schools in the Pacific Coast League compete, took place on April 26 for girls’ open and April 27 for boys’ open. Boys’ and girls’ junior varsity and varsity will compete on April 29.

This season, boys’ and girls’ swim have both won more meets than ever before in the school’s history, and  swim sits at the Division 1 level after a successful CIF performance last year, according to swim coach Kellie Lawicki.

Knowing that swim has won against Irvine High in the past, Lawicki notified the team that everyone would be swimming their off events —or the events that they are generally weaker in— for this meet: the first time that this has occurred all season.

Freshman swimmer Abby Miller, who Lawicki cited as a standout player, swam the 200 Individual Medley (IM) and the 100 Fly.

“It’s definitely scary when coach tells you that we’re going to be doing something different because you get into such a routine of, you know, doing your best events, and it feels really good when you do well in your best events,” Miller said. “I think that the team as a whole did such an amazing job being thrown into that unknown type of situation.”

After meets were separated by level last year due to COVID-19 regulations, meets went back to being inclusive this season, which increased both team spirit and performance, according to Lawicki. 

“I think it’s a lot more exciting,” captain and senior Summer Sim said. “It makes the meets more fun because it’s one giant family regardless of age level or gender. We all support each other, which is probably the best part about swim.”

This supportive environment played an especially vital role in the March 16 meet against Northwood High, which Lawicki cites as the most memorable moment of the season; Northwood is currently the top-seeded team in the Pacific Coast League.

“Going into that dual meet, we had some of the captains buy purple heart sunglasses and purple necklaces,” Lawicki said. “We knew that the only way we would semi-have a chance at beating them in any of the teams would be to have that team spirit and make sure that we’re cheering each other on. And that’s exactly what happened. I mean, we lost — actually open girls’ won — but the score was a lot closer than we anticipated, and we swam really well, so I like to say it was a good loss.”