For the past three weeks, the Varsity swim team has been preparing for their season opener against Riverdale County. The Swim team has trained every day including Saturdays for two hours. With the season opener approaching, the swimmers of Saint Benedict’s prep (SBP) will keep up their dedication to the sport.

The SBP Varsity swim team went in with high hopes of winning the first meet of the season against the Riverdale County team. The Gray Bees walked in with a positive mindset and it was clear how proud they were to participate in this meet and show off their skills. With the persistence displayed in their practices, the swimmers pushed themselves to improve their times.

At the beginning of the race, Saint Benedict’s Prep had their work cut out for them as they were up thirty points to Riverdale’s twenty. Even so, there were many moments throughout the meet when the swimmers realized that they could have done better.

In the second half of the meeting, SBP started off strong. The lead began to slip away as Riverdale responded intensely. Without realizing it, the Gray Bees slowly started letting their guard down, ultimately letting Riverdale snatch more points during the two-hundred freestyle.

Even though Riverdale beat SBP, it did not discourage the team because as new Head Coach AJ Myha stated “practice makes perfect”.

Closing the gap for SBP was Javier Hernandez (UD1), as he came in first place for the 100 fly. In addition to helping the team gain points, he also set himself a new personal record. Celine Argueta (FY), also beat her own time for butterfly with a time of 1.19. Winning the first relays with the two-hundred medley relay and the two-hundred relay was Christian Cunas (SY), Javier Hernandez, Liam Vertreese (UD1), and Gaberial Martinez (SY).

Coach Aj has high hopes for the team and said, “We will overcome each challenge and be successful this season.”

Overall, there was great effort shown by the Gray Bees. However, despite the loss, we know there is more to be seen from this team. Now the question lies, “How will the team respond after taking this initial loss?”