In the second meet of the season, the Wolverine swim team topped Valhalla, 95-76. The boys and girls swim teams combined to create this score, March 8.

 In the meet’s first race, the boys 4 by 50 medley, the whole team was screaming encouragement at their competing teammates, urging them on to greater and greater speeds. In the beginning of the medley, Westview was in the lead, quite a few lengths in front of the closest Valhalla swimmer. But as the race went on, Valhalla started to catch up. As they got closer and closer, the shouts of encouragement grew louder. All of this encouragement seemed to work, as the final swimmer in the relay put on a burst of speed and managed to beat the Valhalla swimmer at the last second.

That final swimmer, Nolan Nguyen (12), who was the anchor for that race, recalled  its last few moments.

“We had the lead for some time, I think for me, I just had to close it up for my team, needed to pick up the pace.” Nolan Nguyen said, “I was pretty confident, I’ve done this race more times than I can count so I felt like I knew what I was doing.”

Coming out of a loss against Rancho Bernardo, Westview’s swimmers said they felt anxious  about their opponents. They had never went up against them before, and had no idea how they swam.

 “We didn’t know much about them, who their strong and weak swimmers were, so we just went in there with the expectation to win, and whatever happened, happened,” Sebastian Wenger (10) said. 

Another hurdle was that coach Deon Lourens was unable to make it to the meet. The team captains, Nolan Nguyen, Lily Andreani (12), Ally Diep (12), and Nathan Nguyen (10) had to step up and lead their team through all of the intricacies of participating in a swim meet. 

“[The team captains] really stood out to me,” JV coach Matt Ingham said. “They stepped up and really led their team well without their head coach.” 

Ingham also mentioned how, because this was the second meet of the year, they were more confident in their abilities. 

“I feel like our swimmers were more used to the processes of the meets, and swam exceptionally well,” Ingham said. “They’re on track to improve this season.” 

The swimmers often encourage each other outside of the meet too. 

“The team is great,” Wenger said. “They’re very inclusive, even to the incoming freshmen, who might not know any people at the school. This is definitely something that they can make friends in and build a community for later on in high school.

“We were cheering on the swimmers and there was a lot of support going on. The team atmosphere on the pool deck was really good. We made sure to get everyone hyped up and ready to go and there was a lot of cheering. It was really fun to be a part of.”

Andreani, who was in the 500 freestyle, remembered her most recent race. 

 “I’ve been doing it [the 500 freestyle] since my freshman year, but it’s always a little bit nerve-wracking because it’s such a long event.” Andreani said. “But when you get in the pool, you kind of find a rhythm and just get your head down and swim. You always feel a little bit nervous though, which is not always a bad thing.” 

After an explosive start to the meet, with the boys barely winning the 4 by 50, Westview went on to beat Valhalla by 19 points. Wenger, who won the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle recalled how much effort the team put into winning the swim meet.  

“I think everybody just gave it their all, really going in there and expecting the best,” Wenger said. “I think because of that, it ended up how we wanted it to.”