Swimming Hopes for State

Boys’ Swimming ups their game during the Angel Invite, and a later meet against East High School.

Photo by Ed Gloor

On March 19, the Spartan swimmers attended the Angel Invite at East High School, qualifying for state in the 400-meter free relay. “We were really glad to have a state-worthy performance,” said Senior Swimmer Tim Mahoney. “Now, we’re just trying to qualify in all of these relays and get as many people to state as possible.”

The next Wednesday, March 23, TJ was invaded by the Angels for yet another meet versus East High School. This time, TJ was only a second off during the 200-yard free relay from qualifying for state. “Even though we didn’t quite make it, it was a big improvement over our last few meets,” said Mahoney. “This next meet, we’re hoping to qualify in the 200. And I know the 200-meter medley relay was really close too in this past meet.”

With state-qualifying performances in recent events, Mahoney hopes for improved performances for boys’ swimming during the rest of the year. “We need to, in our relays, work on people’s individual lengths; try to get them closer, and to the fastest they can go,” said Mahoney. “The starts are important, the turns are important; but as far as strokes, everyone who swims in these relays nailed their stroke, so really there’s no improvement there. But in terms of endurance, we could go farther.”

Boy’s swimming will go up against George Washington High School on April 13, with a strong expectation for a tough game. “George is usually hard, because they’re a 5A team; they have really good swimmers, and just a lot of people who make state and all,” said Mahoney. “It depends though, because some of their swimmers don’t swim in meets because they have their own invites to go to, so it really just depends on who’s there and who we’re up against. I know we beat them at the relay meet last year, but they didn’t bring all their people. I think we’ll try our hardest and hopefully come out on top.”