The Berkeley Carroll Varsity Swim team has started their season strong.  For the first time in two years, there is a boys team as well as a girls team.  The teams are made up of a mixture of very experienced swimmers, and swimmers who are just starting out in the sport.

So far, the girls have had three meets, and the boys have had two.  The girls compete in two leagues: the AAIS and the ACIS.  They started their season with the informal AAIS Relay Carnival, which is an unscored meet, but gives swimmers from all teams a chance to size up the competition for the rest of the season, as well as getting a chance to compete in many different relays.  The BC team had great results, including a second place in the 10×25 freestyle relay. The new freshmen on the team had a chance to compete in their first varsity meet.  The team’s second meet was equally successful: a victory over Packer (in the ACIS league) 58-30.

The boy’s first meet was against Packer and Birch Wathen Lenox, which they won, 55-46 (BWL)-43 (Packer), and it was a nail biter.  The meet came down to the last two races!  All the boys swam incredibly, putting 100% into each event, especially freshmen Eric Liu and Albert Rubin, both finishing in first place in their events, and freshman Michael McAlpine, who broke two school records, one in the 50-freestyle with a time of :25.07, and one in the 100-backstroke with a time of 1:03.5.

“The team is small and young, but very talented and has a lot of depth,” explains coach Brooke Rea.  This gives the team a great advantage: many of the swimmers have 2 or 3 years to develop their skills, and they are supported by the team’s older swimmers, who have been a part of the team for their whole high school career.  The boys team is made up of three very experienced swimmers, and three that are new to the sport.  “It is great to see them work together–the new guys continue to improve, and the veterans carry the team with their speed, talent, and leadership,” Coach Rea says.

The team has high hopes for this season.  Coach Rea explains that they want “to continue to improve technique and speed in all four strokes, and then begin to specialize into stroke- and event-specific training.”  However, they are also looking towards the end of the season with their sights set on the ACIS and AAIS championships. Seeing how phenomenally the team has been performing so far, this is shaping up to be a very successful season!