Swim falls to Los Gatos High School in the third meet of the season 221-114
Several matadors achieve CCS qualifying times despite loss
Senior Adi Mellacheruvu swims in Boys 500-yard freestyle, placing fifth with a time of 6:29.11.
April 6, 2023
Varsity Swim competed with Los Gatos High School on March 31 in 24 different events over the course of three hours, with Varsity Boys losing 104-63 and Varsity Girls losing 117-54.
Assistant Coach Shannon Reed says that since this was the first time the team was competing at the Los Gatos Aquatic Center, the members were challenged by swimming in a pool half the length of what they were usually used to.
“I [knew] it’s gonna be a little tough, especially with the way the pool is divided,” Reed said. “[We’re competing in] a 50-meter pool, and they have one divider in the middle, so you’re practicing a lot of turns. ”
In addition to an unfamiliar setting, the team was also competing without its head coach, Winter Bloom. Senior Ryan Tang says that as Reed mostly works with JV, being unable to talk with his usual coach had an effect on his performance.
“We don’t have the same closeness,” Tang said. “It made it a little different going into the race — [I was] a little bit less prepared.”
Despite the challenging environment, several Varsity Swim members were still able to obtain CCS qualifying times — Tang in 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Davina Huang in 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly and junior Leo Matsumoto in 100-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle
Senior Shaunauk Joshi saw improvements in his times but says he needs to continue working on underwaters and flip turns for the 500-meter freestyle in next week’s meet at Saratoga High School.
Overall, Reed says the team did well, noting that the main improvements to be made were mostly individual. However, she notices that the team performed much better in terms of team morale.
“Our biggest goal was to be as much of a team as possible, cheer as much as possible and show up in Monta Vista gear,” Reed said. “That’s something that we’ve been working on [and] I think we did well with that, even though our team is a lot smaller than theirs.”
Joshi shares Reed’s sentiment, believing the team showed more support for each other than before.
“There was more cheering for our teammates than last meet,” Joshi said. “That’s always a good thing — [we’re building] team spirit.”
