Aragon not out of the pool yet

The swimming team continues to prepare for their upcoming meets and improve their standing at the PAL championship. Despite beginning the season with some obstacles, the team is ready to face Woodside on Mar. 17.

While the pool was under construction, the swimming team went to the College of San Mateo for their practices. Junior Ivette Gonzales says, “For us it was harder because we have seventh period and we had to be there as quickly as possible.”

Coach Fred Farley shares the same opinion, “Without the pool it was a little bit unsettled and the kids were having trouble getting up to CSM.”

Other than the time and location of practices, the team also faced another challenge. Junior Karol Ruiz says, “Our practices were not that long. We only had the pool for about an hour [3:30 pm to 4:30 pm]. Also, we only used six lanes because CSM club swimmers used the other lanes.”

Moreover, some students’ schedules created some problems with the practice routines. Sophomore Olivia Simon says, “Others were still finishing their winter sports [when we started swimming practices] and could not make it. One of my team members could not come to the practice because she still had basketball.”

Despite these setbacks, the team was grateful for having the chance to practice in another pool. Junior Victoria Patton says, “The pool at CSM was warm compared to last year at Aragon. It was also a little more professional. [But with the construction], the Aragon pool has more lanes now, so we are more spread out.”

With the new Aragon pool, the swimmers will be more able to focus on their routines and not worry about the location and time of practice. Simon says, “We do mix of different strokes. We do four laps of breast stroke, four laps of freestyle, four laps of backstroke, and four laps of drill that is like a different version of a stroke.” Patton adds, “We have more morning practices but on dry land like running or weight training.”

Besides the new pool, the swimming team also faces this season with a new coach. Farley just started coaching the Aragon swim team last year. He says, “I own and coach a year-round swim team, and [the Otter swim club] is anywhere from six years old to 18 years old. In high school, kids are a little bit older [between 14-18] and can hold a conversation.”

Junior Brianna Williams gives some feedback about their new coach. She says, “He monitors how we swim and advises us on how we can improve our personal skills like breathing, working on arms and legs.”

Furthermore, it seems that the team does not have to worry about larger teams anymore. Gonzales says, “There are a lot of new people this year, probably about 75-80 kids compared to last year’s 45-50. It is nice to have diversity.”

Farley says, “The new kids [mostly freshmen and sophomore] need to learn how to swim correctly and work on their stroke techniques. There are quite a few new freshmen who can actually swim and are in pretty decent shape.”

In addition, other schools are also preparing for this season and are ready to face the Aragon swim team. Ruiz says, “Our most difficult opponent is Menlo-Atherton and Burlingame High School.” Farley explains, “Historically, they are the top two schools in PAL. They have a lot of club swimmers who swim year round.”

However, the team is confident and prepared enough to meet their goals this year. Farley says, “We just have to be more competitive and just try to do as well as we can and then score high at PAL and see how many qualifiers we can get to CCS.”

Right now, the team is just focused on their upcoming meet against Woodside. Patton says, “Before the day of the meet, we do starts like start of the race, real relays, diving especially and focusing on time.” She adds, “Everyone is just trying to do better than last season. I think we will be more strategic in terms of how we use our energy in the middle of the race.”

Though this is just the beginning of the season, it seems the team has already planned their whole year.

With their new pool and new team members, the team is full of dedication and passion to give their best this season and achieve their goals.