Boys’ Swimming Looks To Improve
Exeter boys’ varsity swimming, a team that spends hours practicing in a 25-yard pool during the winter, swims innumerable laps down the same black line every day of the week. The team’s presence is strong on campus. The distinguishable chlorine scent follows its members wherever they go. The swimming team spends most of its time together in the pool, at daily meals and on long bus rides to various meets across New England.
Because many of the swimmers also play water polo in the fall, the swim team is a very tight-knit group. “We’re really close because that’s two seasons with the same guys,” upper Jackson Parell said. “There’s a really friendly atmosphere among the guys. It’s very supportive, so even when you don’t have the best of races, you can still lean back on the team.”
Suffield is one of the fastest teams in the league and are the favorites to win this year. The fact that Exeter was able to finish within ten points off their tough opponents demonstrates the team’s potential.
After three months of two hour practices and back-to-back races last year, the team finished their 2015-16 season with a record of four wins and six losses. Many of these dual meets were very close, coming down to one event, with a difference of just a couple of points.
The team credited its marginal losses to a shortage of key swimmers on those days. Exeter’s performance at Interschols, where they placed in fourth out of eleven schools and defeated tough opponents that they had lost to earlier in the season, is a clear testament to their progress.
“I think our main goal is to just kick ourselves back into shape. So we’re just going to train right through the meets.”
“We managed to squeak by Choate [who they had lost to earlier in the season] for fourth overall at the New England Championships,” senior and co-captain Joel Lotzkar said, praising Exeter’s comeback at Interschols.
The team is working hard to further its success this season and is continuing to put in the many hours of practice while finding new ways to improve from last year. “I think our main goal is to just kick ourselves back into shape,” Parell said. “So we’re just going to train right through the meets.”
Big Red will keep training through the Christmas break to maintain their progress from these two weeks back for the start of the term. “We are planning to ramp up practice intensity and have a more focused mindset for practices and dual meets,” Lotzkar added.
Although the team has lost several of its critical swimmers from last year, it has acquired new and fresh talent. In their first meet of the year against Suffield, one of the newcomers, prep Charlie Venci, placed first in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 54.87 seconds.
Another notable race from a young member of the team was prep Andrew Sun’s 50- and 100-meter free, swimming his 50 in a quick 23.35 seconds. He secured third and second place respectively in those events. With the addition of these young and talented swimmers, the team’s future looks promising.
When the boys return from break, they will swim against Brunswick, a team that has proved to be a formidable rival to boys’ water polo in the fall and to boys’ swimming in the winter. This meet is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 7. “We’re looking forward to swimming fast for the rest of our season. Go Big Red,” Lotzkar said.