Jan. 17, 2024
By Alexandra Lourenço
Editor
The swim team, which is co-oped with North Arlington High School, headed into this season with a large team of 21 boys and 22 girls. In comparison, last year’s team consisted of 14 boys and 13 girls.
As of Jan. 8, the girls’ record was 2-3, and the boys’ record was 1-3.
Sophomore Evangelise Amaya, who joined varsity last year, said the team has shown a lot of promise.
“Their stamina is excellent. Their participation and their commitment to doing the sport is honestly amazing,” Amaya said.
She said one of the swimmers’ strengths is their unity.
“Both my mom and my dad have come to each one of my meets, and my mom always packs me snacks and water.”
“We all talk to each other, we all communicate [and] we all have a really good relationship with each other,” Amaya said.
Junior Nancy Attia, who has been swimming since she was five years old and has been on the varsity team for all three years of high school, said she has noticed the team’s improvement since last season.
“There [are] a lot of good additions to the team, and I feel like that has helped us a lot,” Attia said.
Attia said her biggest disappointments as an athlete occur when she falls short of the expectations she sets for herself.
“Sometimes you are either slacking off because you are not feeling good that day… or you just did not do the best that you thought you could,” Attia said.
She said her parents are her biggest fans.
“They’ve supported me since I started swim[ming],” Attia said. “Both my mom and my dad have come to each one of my meets, and my mom always packs me snacks and water.”
Senior Ismael Lamar, who is in his second season on varsity, said his mom is his greatest supporter.
“She has always wanted me in the water,” Lamar said. “It’s awesome seeing her in the stands cheering.”
Lamar said among the swimmers’ best qualities are their energy and morale.
“We [are] cheering even if we [are] losing,” Lamar said. “We are not the best swim team, but we… definitely have the charisma.”
Lamar said with more swimmers than last year, the team has had a lot of breakthroughs.
“It’s difficult getting into swimming, especially competitively [because] we only have two weeks of practice [before meets begin],” Lamar said. “Our newer swimmers and returning swimmers have definitely improved a lot.”
