By Chris Moffitt
You are sitting in 1st period class and something seems completely wrong. You begin closely examining each one of your classmates to see what is making them seem so different. Finally your gaze rests on your classmates who are part of the TPA swim team and you realize…they are actually awake! A major change for TPA Swimming and a cause for rejoicing among swim team members is that swim practices are no longer held during the ungodly hours of the early morning, but during the evenings!
This is but one of the many changes in this season of TPA swimming. Coach Stevens, the TPA swimming coach, comments on what might be the biggest difference with this season saying, “the team has grown tremendously. Last year we had about 25 swimmers—combined junior high and high school—and this year we have more than 40!” This significant growth in numbers made it so that a couple more changes had to be made. Coach Stevens says, “we had to hire a second junior high coach and we train swimmers in separate groups based on skill or ability—not age.” Team Captain Bronson Stevens points out a potential drawback to such a large team saying, “there is now hardly any lane space.” But TPA has made do with a lot less in regards to athletic facilities and Bronson remains very excited for the season. In fact, Team Captain Katherine Riffle points out that the large number of middle school swimmers is the main strong point for the team because “it means there is a bright future ahead for the high school swim team.” Senior swimmer Jasmine Antony pinpoints the reason for this clarifying that “having a bigger team means more points, because it’s very hard for a team with just a few swimmers to place anywhere in meets and sometimes it really comes down to quantity.”
Although there is a bright future in the upcoming years of TPA swimming, that is not to say that this season’s prospects are not high. In fact, Coach Stevens is very excited about the possibilities for this year’s team. She says, “I have especially high expectations for the boys’ team. Three boys qualified for state last year (Bronson Stevens, Jeffrey Snoddy, and David Hudson) and I am certain they will qualify again this year. I’m also excited for our girls’ team. They hold a lot of potential and I am hoping that our veteran senior girls will help lead the younger girls to state.”
All of this potential was clearly displayed during the team’s first meet on September 10th. Although they did not win the meet due to the fact that the TPA team is just too small to compete against teams with 75+ swimmers, the team still set four new school records! David Hudson swam a 2.06.45 in the 200 IM; Jeffrey Snoddy swam a 23.38 in the 50 Free; the 200 Medley relay went 1.47.94 with David Hudson-back, Jeffrey Snoddy-breast, Aron McBay-fly and
Bronson Stephens-free; and the Boys 200 Free relay made 1.39.09 with Bronson Stephens, Joshua Kinney, David Hudson, and Jeffrey Snoddy. Keep your eyes on this year’s swim team! They have an exciting season ahead of them and, over the years, they will only be getting better!