Paly’s junior varsity and varsity swim teams appear eager for the season to begin after Saturday’s intrasquad Green and White meet revealed fast times and strong camaraderie.

The first and only home meet scheduled for the season, the Green and White meet, an annual tradition, provided an opportunity for swimmers to test the waters and see where their times fall at the beginning of the competitive season. Swimming against teammates, competition was friendly but fierce, as evidenced by team cheers and playful spitting into the neighboring lanes.

Even from the meet’s unofficial times, it is clear that this year’s athletes are capable of serious competition. "This team is deeper and stronger than last years’," said former varsity coach Jeff Peterson, attributing some of the new ability to "strong freshmen." "[I think] we’re able to challenge for CCS title this year," Peterson said.

Boys’ varsity co-captains, seniors Alec Goldfield and Jeremy Goldstein, agreed. "This is the best team since I’ve been here … We have good freshmen, good transfers, and just good new swimmers," Goldfield said.

Girls’ varsity senior co-captain Remy Champion was also optimistic. "We didn’t lose that much talent [after last year], but other top schools, like Mitty, did," Champion said. "On paper we have a lot of potential."

Among the new swimmers are junior transfer Edward Morrison, who came to Paly from Brazil, and freshman Liv Jensen. Both swimmers displayed their ability during the meet and are recognized by head coach Danny Dye as team leaders in terms of speed. Morrison swam the 100-yard freestyle in 49.89 seconds, an impressive time considering that Paly’s record in the event is 46.79, set by John Samotyj in 1999. Jensen’s performance was also noteworthy and demonstrated her ability in medium length and longer events; in the 200-yard freestyle Jensen clocked in at 1:59.56, and in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:31.63, beating her competitors by at least 20 solid seconds.

However, Dye notes that, "the team is well-balanced all across the board." According to Dye, depth is a key attribute of the Paly team. "I could say something positive about every swimmer on the team, they’re just so solid all the way across," Dye said.

This is Dye’s first season as varsity coach at Paly, after transferring from his position as head varsity coach at Los Altos. Dye notes that there are differences between the schools’ teams, such as Paly’s greater "depth in swimming," but looks forward to working with Paly athletes. "I really cared for my kids at Los Altos, and I miss them," Dye said. "But this is a quality group here. It’s a challenge to get to know the new group and [to find] out who they are."

While there remains time to train before jumping into competition, the captains already know what they hope to accomplish in the season, outlining realistic goals for the team. "Our goals [this year] are to win all duel meets, win League, and come in second in CCS," Goldfield said. Goldstein agreed, saying, "If you ignore Bellarmine, we’ll be first [in CCS]."

Paly’s first official meet is scheduled for March 3 at and against Aragon.