On April 8, the Aragon girls swim team (0-5 overall)* and boys team (5-0 overall)* faced the Menlo-Atherton girls swim team (4-2 overall)* and boys team (4-2 overall)* in a home meet. Girls varsity lost 98-70 while boys varsity won 99-71.
Hoping to build on earlier successes of the season, the team was excited for the competition from Menlo-Atherton.
“I think we went into it just like every other meet,” said junior Marc Andre Lam. “We believe in ourselves, we know we’re good, and know we have a lot of great swimmers. [Menlo-Atherton is] good too, but I think we have strength in numbers.”
After 46 races, the team had 23 first-place finishes across all four divisions.
“Our varsity boys went in undefeated and came out undefeated,” said head coach Carly DeMarchena. “That [was] our goal … and we reached [it].”
Lam was satisfied with his performance during the meet.
“[I had] close to my best time … on my 100 fly … and I thought the atmosphere was really good,” Lam said. “Especially on the relays, there was a lot of energy.”
The swim team is co-ed and mixed-level. Though meet events are separated into varsity and junior varsity races, and girls and boys races, the teams practice together.
The team is divided into three levels: red team, black team and Don team. The red and black teams include junior varsity swimmers, and the Don team includes varsity swimmers. The practice schedule for each group is different, but there are team practices daily. Usually the day before a meet, the swimmers conserve their energy by having an easier practice that focuses on turns, diving and finishes.
This year’s swim season has been different, marked by a return to in-person competition rather than virtual meets where schools would record and send the results to one another.
“I feel that competition is a lot better because now we’re swimming against other schools in person,” said sophomore Seth Smith. “We’re able to push ourselves to go a lot faster than if we were just swimming by ourselves and with each other.”
“This is probably one of the best teams we’ve had in a long time”
This season, the Dons have achieved seven Central Coast Section qualifications.
“This is probably one of the best teams we’ve had in a long time,” DeMarchena said. “We’ve had a couple [of] relay [teams] and … individuals qualify already, and they qualified even in the first and second meet, which is very impressive.”
As the season comes to a close, the team is focusing on pushing toward the Peninsula Athletic League competitions.
“[The] goal is just to stay undefeated because we’ve had a really good season going,” Lam said. “[We] cap it off with PALs, so we just [have to] finish strong.”
Both the girls and boys varsity teams will face PAL trials at Menlo-Atherton. The girls will have theirs on April 27 at 2 p.m. while the boys team will have theirs on April 28 at 2 p.m.
*Records as of April 18
