The Lafayette Swim Team had low expectations coming into this school year. Colin Crisci, captain of the swim team says other words, but according to much of the team they did not stand much of a chance. This was due to the large numbers of seniors they had lost and the heavy load the freshman class would have to take on. There were also many new members, leaving the boys forced to start. They had their first swim meet on November 28th.
According to Colin, the team “Destroyed everyone.” He also stated Jake Cantrell, Braden Lee, Wyatt Sylvester, and Henry Gemerek
put in a great meet and showed lots of potential. Against Poquoson and Smithfield, they pulled out a win by a whopping 82 points. This win may have proved the rams are defying their preseason expectations, but is this streak attainable? Jake Cantrell, a star swimmer, is also involved in track, soccer, and weightlifting outside of swimming, so there is some concern he will not be available for every meet. This is also the case for star senior and captain Braden Lee, as he is also a track star. Next week, there is a track meet the same day as the swim meet, so these stars will have to decide which sport they want to participate in. There may be other conflicting activities, such as soccer tournaments that could take out multiple swimmers. Other than this, there is always the looming possibility of an injury. If Braden Lee or Colin become injured, the team may be in some real trouble. These two have been a part of the team for their entire high school career, meaning an injury would leave the team demoralized and without one of their best swimmers. If this injury occurs to a freshman, such as Wyatt, the future of the team will be in trouble. One upside to this year’s swim team is their newly founded dive team, featuring Josh Sims and Reed Smith. These two may not be the most experienced at diving, however they will be able to score state points, giving our rams a better chance at winning states. In the past, our swim teams were projected to win, but ended up losing because of our lack of a diving team. A team two years ago featured icons such as Joey Sims, Victor Parks, Connor Rice, accompanied by
Braden Lee, Colin Crisci, and Josh Sims. This team was leading the entire bracket in the state championship when the swimming ended, however, when the diving teams of other schools competed, our rams could not compete. They were robbed of their state championship due to this. This year, they may have a chance due to their diving team, however they need to keep up their competitive edge in swimming. If our rams keep this edge, keep their stars, and scores from diving, they have a legitimate chance at winning states. The only thing we need to keep in mind is the prospect of injuries and losing swimmers to other sports.
