The boys’ swimming and diving team vies to place in the top three in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and Central Coast Section this season, backed by the support of both young and experienced athletes, to recover from last year’s losses in these competitions.
Last year’s SCVAL meet marked the first time in five years that the Vikings did not win the first place title. At CCS they placed sixth, short of their top-five goal, but surpassing their seventh place finish in 2009.
Among the new swimmers this year are freshmen Andrew Liang and Willy Lee, who will add depth and allow for team strength in relays, according to coach Danny Dye.
“Whereas last year we really had to focus on two relays, this year we can spread it out and focus on all three relays, and relays are the big points at CCS and leagues,” Dye said.
Liang will be competing as a sprinter, while Lee will be a backstroker, a specialized swimmer they lacked last year.
“We’re probably led by [junior] Byron Sanborn,” Dye said. “He won the 100-yard breaststroke at CCS last year [with a time of 57.75 seconds], but he’s gotten faster and stronger.”
Other key athletes include senior swimmer Arseniy Kotov and junior Rollin Lau and senior divers Jordan Zenger and Joseph Solvason, as well as sophomore Cole Plambeck. Last season, Plambeck was one of the top three divers at CCS.
“Diving is going to be huge for us,” Dye said. “It’s a great way to get a lot of points at leagues and at CCS and that can really vault us over some schools who don’t focus on diving as much.”
To prepare for the upcoming season, the swimmers have been doing increased yardage to build a stronger base for later in the season for when they taper, according to co-captain D.J. Fotsch. Tapering is when swimmers reduce their workouts prior to a competition.
“We’re just basically getting back in shape, getting in the yardage that Danny [Dye] puts into each set each week – we have eight practices a week,” sophomore swimmer and diver Alex Francis said.
Despite the preparation, the team will face challenges this season.
“Bellarmine won CCS for the past 27 years,” Fotsch said. “This year, we have a chance to get first but we would need to be perfect.”
Dye remains positive. “I’m really excited about the team this year and we’ve already gone a month into training and they’re doing a great job, they’re really working hard,” he said.
The Vikings will kick off the season at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday at home with a tri meet against Menlo and Los Altos high schools.