The spring sports season has come and gone again as the PVHS Swim Team made a splash in another successful season. Having started in February and ending in May, the swimmers competed in 8 meets including 4 league meets at home, 2 away, the first ever Thunder Swim Invitational in Helix, and the Imperial Valley League Finals (IVLs). On top of that, the Boys 200m freestyle relay team also qualified for and was able to compete in the CIF Prelims at Granite Hills High School.

The season began with tryouts for the team back on February 6. The team then began normal practices in the following days and continued from there on up to the first swim meet, the home opener against Brawley. Practices typically lasted from 3:30pm to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, to be able to improve as much as possible everyday, with some exceptions because of bad weather.

Swim meets consist of four different strokes: Freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke. In total there are eleven different events or races that either gender can participate in. These are the 50, 100, 200, and 500 yard freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 breastroke, 100 backstroke, the 200 medley relay, the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and the feared 200 IM which consists of 50 yards of each stroke. With so many options to choose from there is something for everyone to excel in based on their skillset.

In order to build camaraderie, one of the team captains, Nicole Heveron hosted a team bonding event Friday Night on March 31. The team spent time together playing games, having a delicious tri-tip dinner, and made s’mores around a backyard fire. The swimmers got to know each other better while having a good time together and making the team closer.

After each swim meet, the team would take part of their next practice or time at the end of the meet for “shout outs”. Each member of the team would congratulate someone for an achievement, honorable or sportsmanlike act, or PR (personal record). PR’s are one of the things every swimmer seeks to achieve as everyone wants to get faster, stronger, more competitive, and to win. With each meet also came the chance to qualify for more elite competitions closer to the end of the season. These meets included the Imperial Valley League Finals, CIF Prelims, and CIF Finals.

Senior Night occurred at the final home meet of the season against Holtville and Calipatria High Schools. Here the seniors of the team, Nicole Heveron, Rylee Presley, Christian Soto, Emmanuel Nwisu, and David Velasco were recognized in front of the home crowd for their contributions and achievements over the years. Each wrote a brief goodbye that included a short bio, achievements, and how they would like to be remembered, which was read in front of friends and family. The seniors then dove in and swam their final lap to awaiting family members and fellow swimmers.

The following week all members of the swim team traveled to Brawley to compete in the Imperial Valley League Finals on April 27. The men’s team placed 4th overall while the women’s team was able to take 7th. One of the top performances for PV was Tommy Houston taking 3rd in the league with the 100 yard freestyle and a time of 57.49. Another was the boy’s 200 freestyle relay team which managed to take 6th out of 14 relay teams and gained CIF consideration with a time of 1:49.95. CIF consideration teams have a CIF worthy time but were unable to swim an automatic time. In the CIF prelims, after the teams that have achieved automatically qualifying times are in, the CIF considerations teams and competitors are put in based on time, meaning a trip to CIF Prelims was not guaranteed. Four days later the swimmers were informed that they had qualified.

On Wednesday, May 3, the Boys 200 yard freestyle relay team travelled to Granite Hills High School in San Diego to compete in the CIF Division 2 Prelims. The 200 yard relay team is a four member relay where each athlete swims 50 yards freestyle before the next swimmer can dive in. The team in order consisted of Christian Soto first, David Velasco second, Danny Carter third, Tommy Houston at anchor, and Nicolas Lindbergh as an alternate. Since their event was closer to the end of the meet, the boys warmed up and had an abundance of time which they spent watching the other events in amazement, rooting on fellow simmers from their league. The relay team swam a season best 1:49.19 and a PR split for Tommy Houston with a 25.32. To cap off an excellent season and celebrate their last time altogether, the boys went to the beach at La Jolla Shores before returning home.