Battle of Interstate 8

The TJ boys’ swim team beats Montbello and places second in the Intrastate 8.

Photo by Mateo Rocha

On Thursday, April 5^th, the boys went to Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs for the Indian Invitational Swim Meet.

TJ was one of the 18 teams who competed in the Invite, and they came in the top 15 of almost every event. Some of the schools involved were Coronado, Pueblo West, Pueblo South, and Harrison.  The team that came in first place was the home team, Cheyenne Mountain with 471 points.  “It was a hard meet and we swam very well,” said Junior Marcus Allen.  “There were a lot of kids there that we will be seeing at the state competition in a few weeks, so it really helped us get ready for when we go to state.”

At this meet, TJ’s third relay team for the 400 Relay qualified for state, which means that all three of TJ’s relay teams will be going to the state meet.  Those who qualified were Freshman Alex Orzescu, Junior Jackson Epstein, Senior Frank Hupperts, and Senior Daniel Wakefield.

The boys were not placed in the meet due to the fact that they did not return to Cheyenne Mountain for the second day.

Then, on Wednesday, April 11^th, the boys had their tri-meet against George Washington and North.

George Washington is a major rival to TJ, which made this meet so important to the boy swimmers.  “It was hard to remember North was even there because we were so focused on beating GW,” said Junior Marcus Allen.  The boys took the lead early, but lost it when GW came in first, second, and third place for diving.  The rest of the meet was back and forth with TJ and George fighting for first place.

At the end of the meet, the score was revealed, and TJ and GW tied for first place with a final score of 93-93, and North came in second place.  “Our coach, [Cindy Allen] was very pleased with us, but the GW coach was furious.  He made them swim for thirty minutes after the meet, and seeing that was definitely a victory in our book,” said Marcus.

TJ had many swimmers who placed first in their events.  Senior Mitch Moore came in first for the 50 Freestyle, and Junior Michael Mahoney came in first place for both the 100 Butterfly and the 100 Breast Stroke. TJ also had two relay teams that came in first for the 200 Freestyle Relay and the 200 Medley Relay.

On Wednesday, April 18, 2012, the boys’ swim team went to Montbello to compete in a meet against the Warriors, and they left no doubt who was in charge.

The boys came in first place, defeating Montbello.  “We hope we are going to beat Montbello every year, so we all swam in a different event that we don’t usually do, to get better and try to make it to state,” said Junior Marcus Allen who, along with Junior Jackson Epstein, was milliseconds away from qualifying for state.  Allen almost qualified in the 100 Butterfly, and Epstein almost qualified in the 200 Freestyle.  “This meet was awesome for the team to have fun, swim, and bond,” said Allen.

The following week, on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, the boys went to Englewood high school to swim in the Intrastate 8 Invitational.  They came in second place, beating rivals East and George Washington.  “It was an awesome meet.  We took first or second in every event, but we sadly came in second place overall,” said Allen.  “We all could have swam better, but it was a good meet.”

The boys will have their next meet on Tuesday, May 5^th.  They will be swimming against the Englewood Pirates, at Englewood, at 4:00 p.m.  If you can, be sure to head out and support your fellow Spartans and show your TJ spirit.