Feb. 12, 2024
By Anastasia Loutroutzis
Webmaster
The swim team, which is co-oped with North Arlington High School, ended its regular season on Jan. 25 with losses at a home meet against Leonia and Palisades Park High School. The girls closed the season with a 3-5 record, while the boys had a 2-5 record.
Senior captain Ismael Lamar, who competes in various events including the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley relay and 500-yard freestyle, said what sets the swim team apart from other teams at LHS is the athletes’ attitudes and support from Head Coach Frew and Assistant Coach Hoyt.
“We are very positive even when it’s hard to be,” Lamar said. “I love the swimmers and the coaches.”
Lamar said he is proud of the team’s improvement since the home opener on Dec. 7 when the girls lost 62-104 and the boys lost 51-115 against Garfield High School.
“We worked very hard during the practices, and it helped with everyone’s endurance as well as their technique,” Lamar said.
After moving from Lake Como, Italy to the United States in September, freshman Emma Bega has already made her mark on the team.
Bega–who started swimming competitively in 2017–competes in the 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. She has consistently placed first in her individual events and holds personal records of 1:32:00 for the 100-yard breaststroke and 1:21:35 for the 100-yard butterfly.
“I see improvement in my times, but I feel like I can do even better,” Bega said. “I really like my teammates and the swim team in general.”
Bega said her passion for the sport and resilience in the face of adversity led her to excel this season.
“As a freshman, nobody believes me that I perform that well,” Bega said.
She said it is nice to hear her name on the morning announcements after she places in an event and receive compliments from her classmates.
“We worked very hard during the practices, and it helped with everyone’s endurance as well as their technique.”
Bega said the team’s traditions include stretching together and having team dinners at local restaurants once a month.
“There [are] a lot [more] people than I expected, [so] it is very different from how I was used to practic[ing],” Bega said. “I really like my swim team because we help each other.”
Senior Isaac De Oliveira, who competes in events including the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard freestyle relay and 500-yard freestyle, said the team benefited from the talent of its 16 new swimmers and 27 returning swimmers, who have improved since last year.
“We had many more close victories compared to last year,” De Oliveira said. “I thought we would never get this close after losing [last year’s five] senior swimmers.”
De Oliveira said this season, his main objectives were to have fun, interact with fellow swimmers and compete well.
“I hope[d] to be able to improve more on my times and finish my last year of swimming strong,” said De Oliveira.
