Varsity Swim Kicks Into Season With New Swimmers

ERIC HUANG
Staff Writer
The Moors varsity swim team has begun their season and are now into their fifth week of practice. Many new swimmers took to the water for the first time as the Moors kicked off their season with a decisive 124-21 victory over Pioneer High School on March 1, and a loss against Gabrielino High School. The swimmers, both new and old, are excited to get into the water and take on a new season.

“I think both the newcomers and the returners this year will have a lot of room for improvement. We all have potential and through our efforts in practice, we’ll hopefully be able to move up in league standings,” returning junior Aaron Shih said.

Although the season is still young, the team has increased the intensity of their practices every day in an effort to better their strokes and kicks prior to the start of many crucial league meets. Currently, the team practices every school day at Granada Park from 3:30-5:30 p.m. The team has been working on conditioning, hoping to quickly get back into shape and to improve stamina.

This year, the team welcomes the challenge of adjusting to their third coach in three years. Along with the challenges of improving every day, the team will try to adjust to the new leadership of Head Coach Jonathan Ruiz.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to adjust well to leading this new team. I hope to help the swimmers improve their strokes and their times, and I expect to see them all work hard in order to do so,” Ruiz said.

As the team enters their regular season league meets, every athlete hopes to see improvement in their times. With time, team chemistry will grow and along with that, so will performance both in individual and relay events. The Moors will have their next race against Bell Gardens on Thursday, March 17.