By Owen Alter
The boys’ swim season began last month and is off to a great start. Team members include senior Carter Taylor; sophomores Zack Schoeder and Aiden Beiser; and freshmen Rowan Illichmann, Jehu Vasquez, and Owen Alter. Thankfully, the 7th-grade social studies teacher at Phoenix Middle School, Jake Elmer, has stepped up as coach of this team. He swam throughout middle school, high school, and college. He has helped the team improve drastically and will continue to do so throughout the season.
The team has had four meets so far: conference relays in Jefferson (an all-relay meet), a meet in Milton, and two meets in Elkhorn. The team did very well in these events. Carter Taylor captured a personal best in the 50 freestyle leg of a relay and placed in the top 10 in two events in Milton and Elkhorn; Carter then won the same events in another meet in Elkhorn. Aiden, Jehu, and Rowan swam their first-ever races in Jefferson. Rowan Illichmann led off every race in the first meet and swam his first 100 backstroke in the 2nd meet, gaining several personal bests in the process. Aiden swam his first 100 free race in Elkhorn and Jehu earned a personal best in the 50! Zack achieved a personal best in the 150 free leg in the crescendo relay in Jefferson and secured 2nd place in the 100 breaststroke in Elkhorn. He also swam in every relay the team was in. Owen set a personal best in the 50-fly leg of the 200 medley relay and secured a personal best in the 25 leg of the 100 freestyle relay while swimming in the other 2 relays. He also dropped several seconds in his leg of the 200 freestyle relay.
With another meet in Badger on the horizon, the team will surely have more personal bests and fun times. If you, or anybody you know, is interested in joining Boys Swim, you can still join by contacting Kyle Polzin or Jake Elmer. If you don’t want to join at this point in the season, you could try joining next year! No swim experience is even required. So if you’re thinking about it, check it out!
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