Boys swim places first overall at Turner invitational
Jaguars win the meet against seven competing teams by six points
January 9, 2018
Jaguars finished in first with junior Chris Sprenger qualifying for state in both the 100-yard fly and 100-yard backstroke. The boys varsity swim team traveled to Turner High School on Monday, Jan. 8 to compete against seven other EKL teams.
Although the meet was successful, Sprenger believes the lack of practice over winter break might have affected how the team performed.
“Coming right off the break, we hadn’t been practicing very consistently,” Sprenger said. “We’ve only had two practices since school started and we’re all kind of out of shape.”
Going into the meet, senior Brennan Schulte focused more on enjoying the experience and having a carefree competition with the swimmers from other schools.
“I really don’t think you can take swim meets too seriously,” Schulte said. “It’s just like a practice. You gotta go out there and have fun because you’re not competing against anybody but yourself.”
Freshman Cole McClure said he strives to improve his time with each stroke and has discovered that practice is a great opportunity to focus on bettering his performance.
“As a freshman, I feel like there is a lot of extra pressure on me to keep my spot,” McClure said. “I’ve been practicing really hard, working on strokes I’m not usually good at like fly and breast.”
Schulte said he is impressed by the team’s senior leadership and believes team relations have improved immensely since the previous season.
“Swim is a personal sport, but when you go and practice with the team, you build bonds that you can’t really find anywhere else,” Schulte said.
This meet was one of many for Sprenger, who has seen the team transition throughout the past three years, but he appreciates how the team has attempted new styles and participated in a variety of events.
“We’ve gained a lot more attraction in each event,” Sprenger said. “We had a lot of freestylers last year, but now the guys that did freestyle last year are branching out into other events.”
The next boys swim meet is at Chisholm Trail Middle School on Wednesday, Jan. 17.
