The Jesuit swimmer lowers himself, slowing bending his knees until he can reach his hands down onto the rigid block. “BEEP!” The swimmer plunges into the icy water below him, diving into the depths with great speed.
On Friday November 11th and Friday and Saturday November 18th and 19th, the Jesuit Swim Team competed in two large meets to showcase their abilities in the middle of a grueling season. The Dallas Cup meet, on the 11th, took place at the Mckinney High school pool, and the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) meet was held at the Lewisville Westside Aquatic Center (LISD). The TISCA swim meet featured the majority of Jesuit’s varsity swimmers and hosted nearly 1000 swimmers from across Texas.
The Rangers at the Dallas Cup Swim meet secured a sixth place overall finish. Junior Josh Betanzos finished first overall in the 100 breaststroke, securing the win with a time of 1:12.62. Senior Jorge Carpizo finished fourth place overall in the 50 butterfly with a time of 29.24. Juniors Lucas Raney and William Fynes both placed well in their events of 50 freestyle and 50 breaststroke respectively. Raney, Betanzos, Carpzio, and Abbas Hussain ‘17 all participated in the 200 medley relay, which placed third overall, and they participated in the 200 meter free relay and placed fifth overall in the meet. Raney stated, “The efforts by all of the schools there made the meet very competitive and entertaining. We train for these big meets all through the year so we were ready to swim fast.” Braden Barale ‘19 continued by complementing the “speedy swims of Josh Betanzos and Jorge Carpizo” in their respective events. While Junior Jake Carlson did not swim in the meet, he praised the team’s efforts, saying that “the JV squad eagerly displayed their swimming prowess as they dominated the competition.” Carlson continued by mentioning Will Fynes as “[improving] exponentially. His hard work has truly paid off.”
The following weekend, Jesuit placed 28th at the prestigious TISCA meet. John Matthews ‘17, one of the senior leaders on the team, vocalized his thoughts on the team’s performance, praising “all of the best times” and explaining how the meet “was great for the development of the team.” Senior captain Timothy Bedard shared with the Roundup that “TISCA is always a very exciting meet. The fastest swimmers from across the state are there, everyone is wearing a fastskin (a type of very fast suit used by swimmers), and there is a lot of energy.” Bedard continued explaining, “there were some disappointments, but we got three A relays to the second day and had a surprisingly fast swim from freshman Ivan Lopez.” Seniors Patrick Daniels and Jack Ayres, Junior Noah Nguyen, and freshman Ivan Lopez swam on all three relays that moved onto day two. Overall, the varsity swimmers swam very well and were able to identify the areas they need to improve in order to hopefully win the district in February.
The Rangers’ next meet is against Plano West and Flower Mound on December 6th, 2016. Come out to support your Ranger swimmers!
