Last year, the boys went undefeated and the girls finished 3-2. With a solid group of returners and some promising newcomers, both swim teams are poised to have continued success.

The main difference this year is the person at the top. After 8 seasons, Coach Kristy Hussain decided to leave coaching. Luckily, the new coach, Monica Botello, was already on staff. “She [Hussain] really encouraged me to think about going for the head coach position,” Botello said. “I shadowed her for a lot of most of the season last year, she kind of gave me her pointers and so I decided to go for it because I really enjoy working with the athletes, the swimmers.”Botello said the team has a lot of returning swimmers, along with new swimmers, but the goals for both groups are the same. “My overall goal is for everybody to enjoy their high school experience being part of the sport, especially part of the same team,” she said.

The first meet of the season was canceled due to weather, but they were able to squeeze in the second meet against Watsonville and Anzar in between rain squalls. The team beat Watsonville (Boys: 120-18, Girls: 72-66), but lost to Anzar (Boys 71-97, Girls 57-97). Assistant Coach Jenness Kelly said the first meet went really well. “We have so many strong swimmers,” she said. In their second league meet against King City, both teams lost (Boys 72-86, Girls 51-104). According to Kelly, the newer swimmers had to step up due to swimmers missing for Disneyland or Dream Academy. I am excited to see how our team progresses the rest of the season,” she said.