MSJ Swim Takes on Alameda High in First Home Meet of the Season

By Staff Writer Gokul Ramapriyan 

MSJ Boys and Girls Swim competed against Alameda High School in the newly constructed pool on March 5. The meet was comprised of Medley Relays, Individual Medleys (I.M.), Freestyle Relays, as well as Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke, and Backstroke events.

Varsity Girls Swim lost 61-101, and Varsity Boys Swim won 120-49. The Boys Swim Team is also continuing a 14-year MVAL win streak as of this meet.

Swim meets are scored using a point system where each place in an event is worth a certain number of points. The team with the highest cumulative points wins.

The Boys Swim Team put up an exceptional performance, winning every event against Alameda High School. In particular, Swim Coach Melissa Kaeo commended Freshman Owen Feng for his 7.862-second lead in the 50-yard Freestyle event, and Boys Varsity Swim Co-Captain Senior Connor Sayle praised Senior Jasper Wu who beat his opponent by 3.25 seconds in the 500-yard Freestyle event. The Boys team did research prior to the meet with Alameda High School Swim Team since they were relatively unfamiliar with their opponent. Sayle said, “We went on the NCS website, and we noticed that Alameda wasn’t too hot. We were [pretty] confident going in.”

The Girls team, however, was neck to neck with their opponents throughout the meet, and lost after a strong fight. Girls Varsity Swimmer Sophomore Rebecca Zhang said, “Even though we lost, it was really cool racing people that were faster than us, and they showed the same level of respect that we showed them.” Kaeo added that Girls Varsity Swimmer Freshman Kailyn Yu, gave a valiant effort at the meet despite being such a young member of the team. Kaeo said, “The girls had a pretty tough competition because [their Girls] team was pretty fast. [The Boys’] competition wasn’t as good as their Girls team.”

According to Boys Varsity Swimmer Sophomore Kyle Wong, the team is still working on team chemistry and figuring out their best lineup for the upcoming season. Kaeo said, “It was good  to challenge someone who is not in the MVAL and to see what’s out there past league championships. We have a strong team, but we need to learn more about the [students’] strengths … it’s like putting a big puzzle together but I think in the end we’ll do well overall.”

Photos by Staff Writer Gokul Ramapriyan