By Owen Alter
For 55 days the DDHS boys’ swim team has had to go without a pool. It broke down in the last week of the girl’s swim season (November 4th) and its repair is delayed week after week. The boy’s swim season, which started November 18th, has been a struggle.
At first, they had to go to the Whitewater Aquatics Center to swim. The Whitewater High School team accepted us and understood our struggles to find a pool. Members of each team made good friends with each other even with their conflict of interest. Unfortunately, though, a time came when the pool owners were getting tired of the team coming there every day. So, the team moved a quick 5-minute drive to the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. The Whitewater Club team allows the team to swim until the pool is fixed.
Normally in swimming, there are at least 6 lanes for athletes. Unfortunately, as the team shares a pool, they only get 2 lanes. Luckily, the team doesn’t have a very large number of swimmers, so it works out. The team also has some things to say about the issue. Team captain, Senior Carter Taylor, loves it when Coach blasts Free Bird on our rides to and from the pool. Freshman Jehú Vazquez says he was hoodwinked by the name Whitewater. He said, “I got scammed! The water is not white.” After this unfortunate news, he and the rest of the team had to come to terms with the reality: the pool’s date of repair is unknown. Who would have thought the swim team would be able to compete with no pool? Certainly not me!
Despite these obstacles, however, there is a potential nominee for the Wisconsin State Championship Qualifier this year. There are two team captains this year: Zach Schoeder and Carter Taylor. Carter Taylor is getting very close to the qualifying time for the 50 freestyle. If he makes it to state, he will be the first to do so in 15 years at DDHS. The last DDHS swim team to make it to state was back in 2009 when Emily Mclellan (now Dwyer) and Alex Riegert won the 100 breaststroke. Carter making it to state would be a major milestone for the swim team and could attract more members to the team.
All in all, the DDHS swim team has faced some challenges throughout the season but they will continue to persevere even if they’re in water that isn’t white.
thecometeer