The Jesuit swimmer plunges into the gleaming blue water. Momentarily disoriented, he orients himself before rapidly pumping his arms and legs back and fourth, propelling himself forward in the water. The swim team was able to defeat Flower Mound but fell short against Plano West in the double meet on December 10th. The team lost to both opponents in the meet last year, and was excited to go 1-1 a week ago.
Swim coach Doug Moyse praised Noah Nguyen ’18 and Brendan Feehery ’16, who each won their races, as well as Aedan Quinn ’16 and Mason Scott ’18, for putting up “very solid” performances. Coach Moyse was pleased that the team was “competitive in the two relays,” which propelled them to a victory over Flower Mound. He mentioned that “There were a few [swimmers] out” and that “Chances are, we would’ve won if we had full strength.”
In lieu of the loss, swimmers on the team were impressed with their performance. Sophomore Josh Betanzos commended how well Brendan Feehery ’16 and his brother Sam Betanzos ’16 swam during the meet. He added that “Jake Carlson ’18 has also been impressive, [showing] up everyday on time and [putting] in the work” that will allow him to swim faster.
Josh’s teammate RL Hoover ’18 complimented freshman Braden Barale’s for his remarkable “team spirit” as well as his classmate, Cole Nelson ’19, a new member of the team who “is working on his form and getting better.” RL added that Cole was put in a tough stroke but was still able to perform well, despite being a newcomer to the sport. He thought his coach was “very happy with [the team’s] performance” but noted that he probably “still wanted some improvement.”
Nguyen said Josh Betanzos was “a real team player” in addition to swimming well, and concluded that the “Coach was pretty proud of [the team],” even though there were no new personal records, which Noah jokingly blamed on the “[food] one of [his] teammates brought.”
The swim team will look to improve on their times as the season progresses and will hopefully continue to come out on top against other tough teams.
