Boys Swimming & Diving had its first and only away dual meet of the season at Deerfield on Saturday. The two-hour drive and the different pool posed a challenge for the swimmers as they got used to their surroundings. However, the team quickly found its footing and secured the victory due to their intense training in preparation for the upcoming Easterns Championship (Easterns) in Pennsylvania.
The new environment posed a challenge for some swimmers due to the nature of the pool. Ryan Loh ’28 noted that, despite this, the team was able to remain consistent.
“Being in a different pool always messes things up, but no one had a really bad race. One of the captains did well in the one fly, considering he doesn’t swim fly. However, I wouldn’t say that there were too many standout swimmers since we were all getting used to the new pool. We should definitely be preparing to get used to different pools, as we will also have to adjust to the pool for Easterns,” Loh.
Soohan Cho ’29 emphasized that the practices set him up for success at the meet, most notably the sprint set the day before, which prepared the team thoroughly. He also noted that he was pushed outside his comfort zone, swimming a distance event he doesn’t usually compete in.
“Today, my coach put me in a distance event, and I don’t swim distance [events] at all. But I dropped time from one to two weeks ago, I dropped four seconds, which is not bad. But then he put me in two back-to-back relays, so I couldn’t really warm down or anything. But judging on my condition, I did pretty well for those as well. At the end of the day, I dropped time, so that’s what matters,” said Cho.
Beckett Kavanaugh ’29 echoed Cho’s sentiment on intense practices leading up to Easterns. Specifically, the team performed a sprint set before the meet, which Kavanaugh thought prepared the team well for the meet ahead.
“Our coach gave us a lot of sets leading up to the meet. The day before the meet, we did a sprint set to prepare for the races we were going to do the next day, and the practices that the coaches gave us prepared us well,” said Kavanaugh.
With more injuries and more strenuous schedules, the team is pushing beyond its comfort zone to compete at the highest level. With Easterns on February 15 quickly approaching, Cho believed that the meet served as valuable preparation for the team.
“Since we have a big meet coming up, we have Easterns in two weeks, this win serves as really good preparation for how you’d be expected to race and be there for the team even if you have events that require you to go outside your comfort zone. I think that’s a really important thing to enforce, especially when the end of the season is drawing near,” said Cho.
Boys Swimming & Diving will compete next week at Easterns.
