Boys Swim & Dive Prepares for State
Media by Jack Favazza
Joe Schoedel, coach, said the team’s goal is to be top 10 at State this year. Though this hasn’t been the case since 2012, Schoedel said the team has been working extra hard this season. “For years we have been building and building and building towards these goals, and this is our chance to get that,” Schoedel said.
Starting the season off with an undefeated streak, boys swim & dive was eager to continue that momentum. However, that streak ended Oct. 5 as they lost the meet to Parkway West.
Logan Fischer, senior, has been on the team for the past four years, and said their first loss can be attributed to a lack of team morale for that specific meet.
“We’ve been cruising through our meets this far, and we weren’t expecting Parkway West to be so prepared,” Fischer said. “Also, a lot of our team isn’t accustomed to swimming different events than they usually do, so that threw us off a bit.”
Moving forward, Fischer said the team can easily regain momentum if they work on their morale. He said the meet against Kirkwood High School is the perfect opportunity for them to do so.
“They’re going to be the toughest team we go against this season,” Fischer said. “I think if we all focus on our individual events and have the confidence we had before we lost, we can put up better than we have in the past, if not win.”
Similarly, Jason Zhao, junior, said a spike in morale could make the team victorious once again.
“Our team is doing pretty good. I just think we weren’t in the right mindset for the last meet. But I think we’re a lot more motivated to win because of that,” Zhao said. “Last year we tied with Kirkwood, and this year we’re aiming to beat them.”
In the future, Zhao said he hopes the team can keep up consistency with their wins.
“Some meets were a bit lacking, like our last, but we’re all very ready for Kirkwood,” Zhao said. “I think we’re gonna have a good meet.”
Echoing Zhao’s hope for consistency is Joe Schoedel, boys swim & dive coach, who said the team has had high expectations.
“But the whole season is a process for growth, and each one of the guys’ growth looks different,” Schoedel said.
At the beginning of the year, the team sat down and discussed goals they wished to attain by the end of the season. These goals included making a splash at Columbia, Mo., a few weeks ago, which they accomplished by ranking 7th. Schoedel said their new goal is to be top 10 at State this year, which hasn’t been the case since 2012.
“For years we have been building and building and building towards these goals, and this is our chance to get that,” Schoedel said.
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Rue Siddiqui, senior, is the Co-Online Editor for the Marquette Messenger. This will be her third full year on staff. She is also a part of the Politics...
Jack Favazza, senior, is the Executive Producer for MHSNews. This will be his third full school year on staff. Jack swims for the varsity swim team and...