After an amazing season last year, the Bearstangs have a lot to live up to this season. The team ranked second nationally last year, and first in the state, the best in school history. 

During the offseason, they lost some incredible senior swimmers, including James Pan and Charlie Crosby. But captain Charlie Egeland ‘23 is optimistic about this season, stating “We won’t be as good as last year because our senior class was so good, but we’ll still definitely be the best again in the state here and probably pretty highly ranked nationally.”

A good swim season starts with good preparation and readiness for the season, which comes from a good off-season. Most of the varsity swimmers for the Bearstangs swim year-round for club swimming, which helps them stay in shape for the high school season and also helps them lower their times. 

Teammate Luke Lentini ‘24 comments on the readiness of the team, saying, “From what I’ve seen with the team, it’s looking really good, even in the offseason. I see a lot of kids showing up to club practice and putting in the work, and they’re cutting down on their times.”

Another key component of a good swim team are the practices. Egeland says that the team practices once every day of the week except for Sunday. That is a very rigorous practice schedule, but it helps the team stay in shape and achieve the excellence that they have been achieving in recent years. 

Josiah March ‘24 expresses the rigor of practices, stating that “practices are pretty intense … you have to be conscious the whole day about recovering, what you are eating, how much you are sleeping so that you can swim hard the next day.”

Overall, the team is very excited for this upcoming season, which they hope will be as fantastic as last season.