The boys’ swim and dive team lost a close meet to Cambridge-Isanti this past Thursday. The defeat put them in a tight conference raise with Cambridge and Watertown, who are all tied for second place. This has been a great season for the boy’s team, as they continue to be competitive in the conference and crush records. Most recently, the relay team of J.D. O’Donnell, Alex Ryan, David Zaske and Tanner Bauman broke the 400 relay school record.
The team has managed so much success this season, especially after facing adversity prior to the season’s start. Last year, the boy’s swim and dive team was cut from the school’s athletic budget. Without school funding, the team has had to do make $10,000 to continue the program. To raise the money, the boys gutted houses for construction companies, held spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts and silent auctions, bagged groceries at Cub and collected many donations from the community.
There was also a coaching change for this season, which could have thrown off the boys’ performance for the worse. However, he boys adapted to the management switch and thrived under new coach Pam Brophy and assistant coach Peter Rand. All the seniors have played a large role in bringing the team together to perform at its highest level possible; the success of the season is showing that their hard work and perseverance is paying off.
