Swimming through unchartered waters

The swim team, along with Coach Murphy and co-captains Kristen Morales and Alyssa Blanco, pushed to make this a great season, despite the uncharted waters they are in. With a positive attitude, they worked hard in order to qualify for districts and, hopefully regionals.

“I was so excited to have a season no matter how short it was!” said co-captain and senior Alyssa Blanco. “ I have loved swimming ever since I joined freshman year, not just for the sport, but also for the bond created between the team.”

The swim team was faced with unexpected difficulties due to the COVID19 pandemic.

“I needed to get everyone practicing as quickly as possible as well as following safety rules for Corona,” Blanco said. “For practice, we are separated into two girls per lane only. We have to wear our masks for when we walk on the pool desk and get ready, but take them off once we enter the pool.”

Despite the challenges they had to face with very few opportunities to compete, the team did not stop until they made it to districts and regionals.

“This year we only had one dual meet before our district competition. For some girls, districts was their only meet of the season and luckily some qualified for regionals,” Blanco said.

Districts was held on Sunday, October 25th and the team celebrated with a lot of personal records. Sophomore Paola Lista competed in the 50 free event for her second year in a row.

“I came in 2nd for my event and I was so excited to compete in districts and cheer on my team,” Lista said.

Two of their relay teams advanced to regionals the following weekend on October 31st. Five girls competed in the meet, Freshman Corina Wong, juniors Victoria Del Toro and Sasha Cejas, and seniors Isabella Lista and Kristen Morales. Victoria Del Toro also competed in several individual events.

“The team did really well and Iwas very excited to go to regionals again,” said Morales. “Unfortunately no one advanced to states, but we were really proud with what we accomplished this year,” Morales said.

Morales competed in the 50 free and the 400 free relay and was very proud of how she placed.

Although the team didn’t make it to states, they worked hard to make it to districts and regionals and are proud of their season.

“I knew this year would be different, but the bond was still there and everyone had a positive outlook on our circumstances and it was definitely worth it,” Blanco said.