Paly’s varsity boys’ swim team is preparing for a new season and is hoping to defend its title as Santa Clara Valley Athletic League champion.
The team has won SCVALs for the past five years and hopes to win again this year, according to head coach Danny Dye. Additionally, the team hopes to place among the top five teams in the Central Coast Section. Dye is confident in the team’s ability to do so.
“Since I’ve been here [at Paly], this is the best team I’ve had in the sense that it’s balanced,” Dye said. “Everyone has a role to play, and if everyone does their job, we should be in a good position for Leagues and CCS.”
Senior co-captains Tim Wenzlau and Mark Higgins will be crucial contributors to the team, according to Dye. Dye expects Wenzlau and Higgins to do well in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle, respectively. Dye also expects freshman Byron Sanborn to play an important role for the team in the breaststroke, and hopes freshman Rollin Lau will help lead the way for the Vikings as well. In addition, the Paly boys will be strong in the backstroke, the 200-yard medley relay, and the 400-yard freestyle relay, according to Dye.
Although the team lost some talented seniors because of graduation, Dye believes that this year’s team is overall more balanced than last year’s team.
“We lost some depth, so it [winning Leagues] will be challenging,” Dye said, “but if they [the team members] focus and work hard, they can accomplish it. We have a good enough balance between people getting faster and new people coming in that we can fill the gaps left by last year’s seniors.”
Senior Thomas Cho agrees that everyone will have to contribute if the team is to succeed this year.
“We lost a lot of fast swimmers,” Cho said. “Returning seniors and incoming freshmen are going to have to make up for that.”
Saratoga and Monta Vista will be the Paly boys’ main competition in the league, while Valley Christian and Bellarmine will pose a threat in CCS, according to Dye.
The swim season will start off at home for the Vikings with the Paly Spring Kickoff Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Dye hopes that the boys will swim well in the first meet.
“I think they’ll do a really nice job,” Dye said. “It’s good competition for them to swim against.”
Wenzlau also feels that the team will perform well at the Paly Spring Kickoff Invitational.
“We’re getting in shape really quickly and everyone’s working really hard,” Wenzlau said.
The meet will start off with the 500-yard freestyle and diving competitions on Friday after school at the Paly swimming pool, and the rest of the meet will take place on Saturday.
The Paly boys will compete against Los Altos High School in the first duel meet of the season after school on Thursday, March 5, at Los Altos.