After an abbreviated Covid season, the swim team was looking to build on the success of the last two years. New Head Coach, Fabian Villanueva took over the reins to train this year’s swim team, with the help of former Head coach Kristi Hussain, and coaches Jenness Bowling, and Ken Fittro. Villanueva brought his knowledge of swimming and what Hussain had taught him. “For my team, my expectations for them were to have fun, be able to learn, and be able to compete with the other schools,” Villanueva said.

This year’s team consisted of returners who were excited to get back a full season and compete again. Senior Roi Vincent Manalac has been swimming for the team since his freshman year, “Swimming is something that I’ve enjoyed doing and has been my passion since freshman year. I’m excited that I was able to compete against different schools this year.” 

On the season, the boys were 4-1, the girls were 0-5. The coaches were impressed with the team’s performance and they saw amazing improvements and goals reached. Senior Sebastian Perez, one of the top swimmers according to Coach Villanueva, was able to break one of his personal records of 1:09.7 in the,  200 IM with a new record of 1:07.7. “This year I happened to be faster and broke the record,” Perez said. “It’s one of the most difficult events to do, but I’m glad I was able to do that this year.”

During Championships, the varsity boys team was 6-1 in dual meets and won the PCAL Championship in the Cypress division due to their depth, according to Coach Hussain. They were overall league champions. “Championship really had lots of adrenaline going on inside me, when I saw I got first place in the 50 free with a time of 35 seconds it felt really good since I did my 50 free in a minute when I first started,” senior Jacob Mejia said.

The varsity girls were 2-5, they placed 5th at the PCAL championships. “They are a hard working group of girls,” Coach Hussain said. “Many of them just learned how to swim this year, and then competed at the varsity level, which is a great accomplishment and I’m super proud of them.” 

By the end of the season some of the top swimmers on the team were able to break school records through their hard work. Senior Sebastian Perez broke four- the 50 free with a time of 24.5, the 500 free (6:04.6), the 100 back (1:11), and the 200 IM (2:31). Along with Perez, junior Emily Ramirez broke the school record in the 500 free with a time of 7:34.4. “It was a really good accomplishment and it felt great. I also did it for Coach Ken,” Ramirez said.

Overall, Villanueva had a positive experience in his first season at the helm.. “I hope everyone had a good time swimming for the Alisal team, it was an honor and a good experience being their coach and I really appreciate every single one of them,” Villanueva said.