By Judd Liebman
After opposite starts to their seasons, both the boys’ and girls’ swimming teams won their first league meets against Notre Dame March 17. The boys’ team routed Notre Dame 140-30, and the girls’ team won by the slim margin of 93-77.
The boys’ team is undefeated so far with a 4-0 record and a 1-0 record in league, but the girls’ team lost its first three meets of the season. The boys’ slimmest victory came against Agoura High School in the team’s first meet of the season.
Although the girls’ team has not started with as much success as the boys have, the girls are defending league champions and expect to win the Mission League again, captain Catherine Wang ’11 said.
“The boys have been exceeding expectations this year, but the girls are struggling just because of numbers,” Patrick Edwards ’11 said.
The teams are under new control this year after former Head Coach Darlene Bible stepped down before the season. Cheyne Bloch, who now coaches both the girls’ and boys’ teams, was assistant coach to Bible, now program head, last year. Because Bloch ran some workouts last year for the team, there hasn’t been much of an adjustment period.
“There isn’t a huge change,” Edwards said. “The only difference is that we just don’t see Bible out on the pool deck.”
The boys’ team is short-handed this year because many boys’ water polo players who are promising swimmers have decided not to compete this year. Among those who are not participating is Sam Ruddy ’11, who had a chance winning the Division I CIF, Wang said.
Among the promising young swimmers are Andy Liu ’14, Henry and John Copses ’14 and Sydney Wong ’14. These freshmen will look to captains Edwards, Jelyca Ormond ’11, Nick Duckwiler ’11 and Wang for leadership this year.
The boys’ team’s biggest meet of the year is against Loyola tomorrow. Winning this meet is vital to achieve the team’s goal of winning league, Edwards said.
