On March 3, the Aragon boys swim team defeated Woodside 112-57 in their first meet of the season.
The meet consisted of both individual and relay races of all four strokes, with each person or relay team scoring a certain amount of points based off of their placement in their heat. Each swimmer on the team can swim up to a total of four events and can swim no more than two relays.
With many of their highest performing and most dedicated swimmers away at a sectional club meet, the team had to shift into roles that they were not as comfortable with in order to cover all events and score their best as a team.
The effect of this deficit was seen from the very beginning of the meet in the two hundred meter IM relay. Each leg of the relay was a different stroke and was swam by a different swimmer. At the end of the entire relay, Aragon finished with a narrow lead and a final time of 1.47.34.
“Our entire A-team for that event is [gone], so we had a B-team today,” said senior Christien Wong.
Wong, usually a butterfly swimmer, swam the opening backstroke leg in the two hundred IM relay.
“We had to make do with what we had,” Wong said. “[From] that perspective, I think we did pretty good.”
After the opening relay, the individual events began, starting with the two hundred meter freestyle. Aragon took both first and second place in the event, growing their overall point lead. Junior Olin Gawel placed second in the event with a time of 2.08.36.
“I’m pretty happy with how I did,” Gawel said. “I tied my best time, so I’m hoping that I can keep swimming the two hundred for the rest of the season [and] hopefully keep improving.”
As the meet progressed, it became clear that the Dons would maintain dominance throughout the rest of the meet as they continuously scored higher than Woodside in nine out of the ten events.
Yet, despite the rapidly diverging scores showing Aragon to a clear win, there were still many moments of excitement for the team and crowd that kept the pool deck abuzz with energy. One such moment was during the one hundred meter freestyle.
“We were missing a lot of our key swimmers today … so if [we did] well today, then that’s good news, because that means our back half of the team is putting in their part”
The Dons took first, second and third in the event with junior Ryan Vattuone at the helm. Vattuone won the event with a final time of 52.76, out-swimming his Woodside opponents by a full seven seconds.
While the one hundred meter freestyle is the shortest event swam by varsity teams, it is still very exhausting, as the athlete is sprinting with all of their energy for the entirety of the four laps.
“It went well,” Vattuone said. “Although you always want to push yourself as hard as you can, if you can [look] around you [and can tell] you’re gonna get first by quite a long amount, you [can] go a bit slower to save your energy.”
The Dons grew their lead to 55 points with a final score of 112-57. While the Dons’ success can be attributed to their depth as a roster as well as individual swimmers stepping up to carry the weight of the missing members of the team, a part of the Dons’ prowess that can’t be overlooked is their energy as a team.
During the entire meet, no matter if a junior varsity or varsity team member was swimming, everyone on the pool deck was cheering each other on and working as one whole swimming program in order to encourage the success of others. There was a constant crowd around the starting blocks and there was never a quiet moment on the pool deck.
“I try my best to cheer for my teammates whenever I can to encourage the team,” said sophomore Garrett Field. “I [try] to make sure that everybody feels that they’re doing their part and keep everybody moving fast.”
Looking to the future, the Dons are hopeful of their chances throughout the rest of the season.
“We were missing a lot of our key swimmers today … so if [we did] well today, then that’s good news, because that means our back half of the team is putting in their part.” Gawel said. “Hopefully, we can keep winning meets and then maybe take home the Peninsula Athletic League title. That’s the end goal.”
The Dons’ next home meet is against Sequoia on March 24 at 3:30 pm.
