“My advice would be to not give in. Do your best to dig in and rise above that challenge, physically and mentally,” Head Swim Coach Paul Marceau said.
The upcoming wave of 2024 spring sports will be starting shortly, including the highly anticipated swim season being just around the corner. Students and staff are eager for what this new season has to offer for both our experienced and incoming Bulldogs who will be representing our school under the swim team.
During the previous season, the boys varsity team had placed in CIF at an impressive 7th place. The girls team, who won 14th place in CIF, also triumphed as six times defending league champions with one student who was able to travel as a qualifier for state championships. With the successful 2023 performances, many are excited for the surprises in store during this upcoming season.
“I think I did, personally, really well for my first year as a freshman,” Mayumi Pedroche (10) said when recalling her previous season in varsity. “This year, I’d hope to take what I learned from freshman year into my sophomore year by improving and looking back and just learning.”
The first swim meet of the season will be away on the 20th at Diamond Bar High School against the Bulls at 3:30, and their Senior Night at home will be a league game against Alta Loma on March 20th. The league preliminaries and finals will be on the 23rd and 25th of April, and they will conclude the season with CIF meets that will take place throughout early to mid-May.
According to Blast Athletics, there are currently 125 total students in both the Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity teams. The team, directed by Head Coach Paul Marceau, is assisted by coaches Adam Sjol, Aidan Mulqueen, Timothy Pham, and Jonathan Yee. Each individual involved with the team has been dedicating hours of time to train, bond, and pursue their goals for the impending spring season.
“A lot of my high school friends said you’re going to improve a lot in high school,” varsity freshman Coco Hong said, “so I want to see what my full potential is and I want to see how hard I can push myself.”
In addition to improving personally, most of these Bulldogs are pursuing more than just the title of League Champions, but also to be CIF-bound. However, this goal is not as simple as it seems.
Though swimming calculates the number of points an individual attains through placement, it is just as much of a team sport as it is independent. Each person in the team contributes to the total number of points scored in total, thus determining the winning and losing side during meets. Therefore, the athletes must learn to cooperate and work together, on top of improving their own skills all in the span of the short spring season.
Fortunately, successful results are evident by the end. With the amounts of grueling effort and time put forth by students, there is always reward awaiting them.
“Nothing makes myself or the rest of coaches happier than when they have a really good swim,” said Marceau. “They look at the scoreboard and they have this massive smile on their face like, ‘Oh my gosh I can’t believe I did that.’ That happens every year and the coaches love it when that happens.”
