The Jesuit Dallas swim team this year has held their place among the best and the brightest swimming high schools in the nation. Swimming powerhouses Plano, Plano West, and Allen are only a few of the teams that make up the district Jesuit swims against. On Friday January 24th, the swim team participated in their 9-5A District meet at the Allen aquatic center, where Head Coach B.J. Antes accepted the award for Coach of the Year.
The team’s strategy going into the district meet may seem unconventional. Swim team captain, Michael Barale ’14, explains, “We as a team are more focused on winning region rather than district. In this case, we didn’t swim our fastest relay combinations. We were mainly focused on maximizing the amount of swimmers we could get from the district meet to the regional meet.”
Despite the team not going 100% at this meet, their success did not go unnoticed. Talented senior swimmer Hector Rivera ’14 added that “overall the team did great. We did way better than expected and had some people that made it through to Regionals that we were not so sure about.” Relay teams and individuals need to place in the top 6 in order to advance to the regional meet.
First, the medley relay team of Brendan Feehery ‘16, Rivera, fellow team captain Matthew Bedard ‘14, and Aedan Quinn ’16, placed third overall in their race. Rivera reiterated however that they “were holding back at this meet to go for the gold at regionals where it counts.”
In the 200 freestyle relay, the team of Nolan Daniels ’15, Mead Robuck ’14, Quinn, and Barale, took home 4th. Lastly, Jesuit swimming placed 5th in the 400-meter freestyle relay with Feehery, Robuck, Bedard, and Daniels swimming . Barale compares this performance to last year, stating, “one of our relays got disqualified at the district meet [last year], basically ending our hopes of a region title. This year, we advanced all three relays, as well as multiple individual events.” These relay teams dominated, despite the eased off strategy that was employed.
To highlight some individual honors, in the 200-meter freestyle Robuck placed 5th . Barale placed 6th in both the 200-meter freestyle and the 500-meter freestyle races. In the 200-meter individual medley, Feehery grabbed 3rd place. Nolan Daniels took 2nd place in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle. Lastly, Bedard placed 3rd in the 100-meter fly race. As each of these swimmers placed in the top 6 of their events, all of them, as well as their respective relay teams, will advance to the regional meet in February.
The Jesuit swim team owes their success to the coaching staff that consists of Head Coach B.J. Antes and Assistant Coaches Seth Waits and Eric Gusa. Bedard expressed that “this year we are a lot closer of a team than last year. There’s a dedication across the whole team to our end of the season goals and we’ve really seen it pay off here at the end of the season.” Barale remembers Coach Antes telling the swim team this year that “if we wanted to have any chance at winning regions, we had to focus on swimming 24/7 – and that’s exactly what we did.”
Coach Antes’ vigorous swim practice schedule and intensity was noticed. Rivera stated that “our work outs seemed to be a lot more difficult than last year’s work outs. A thing that we struggled with last year was maturity and pushing ourselves to the limits, but as soon as coach would “put a carrot in front of us to make us go” I saw that everyone would go all out. ” Antes’ commitment and dedication to the team did not go unnoticed by the district either as he accepted an award for Coach of the Year at the district meet. Bedard elaborates on Antes’ success: “I couldn’t think of a more deserving coach for the award. Coach Antes pushes our team not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. He truly embodies what Jesuit asks its employees to strive for, not only in his ‘real job’ as the advancement director, but also working with us every morning. The reason our team is able to develop exceptional swimmers year after year is because of his unending dedication to getting the best out of us in every way.”
Jesuit swimming has a chance to do big things this year. The talent and work ethic of this year’s team proves to be a lethal combination for other schools trying to compete. Despite the impact these Jesuit swimmers have made on the Jesuit swimming program and its future, the Jesuit swimming program has made an even bigger impact on them. Barale says, “Swimming has not only helped me keep in shape, but has opened up many new doors in my life, such as club swimming at the state level. It has help me build strong relationships with other swimmers, as well as increase my leadership abilities being a co-senior captain with Matthew Bedard.”
Bedard added that “Swimming has been an incredible opportunity to grow as an athlete and as a leader. I have had to learn discipline and commitment but I wouldn’t trade my daily 6 a.m. practice for anything.” Rivera agreed that, “Being a part of Jesuit swimming has been amazing for the past four years and I would not change a thing about it. Through swimming I have made life long friendships with Mead, Nolan, Matthew, and Michael to name a few. Also, it has given me countless laughs and stories that I would have never seen happen without swimming at Jesuit.”
Jesuit swimming has worked hard all year and now it is their time to show what they are made of. With a bright performance at districts, the Varsity Jesuit swim team placed 4th overall. Now, they wait and work towards the coveted gold medal at the Regional meet in February. The stage is set for Jesuit swimming to make some school history.
