Irvington Swim struck yet another victory against Newark Memorial with a score of 453 – 183. On Friday, April 24, Irvington hosted its senior night at Mission San Jose High School’s pool. This year’s senior night was very sentimental and reported to be the highest crowd turnout everyone’s seen. With a total of twenty seniors, their senior night was bound to be explosive, having a lot more energy and the most school spirit than ever before.
Head Varsity Coach Tyler Long commented about team progress and overall improvement throughout this swim season. “We’ve had great leadership this season,” Coach Tyler mentioned. Although there were no captains for the swim team this year, Coach Tyler gave shoutouts to standout swimmers Alison Young(12), Alyson Tan(12), Isabel Lam (11), and Alison Su (11) on the girls’ side and Phillip Lu (11) and Shanay Verma (10) on the boys ‘ side for stepping up for greater responsibility and leadership. “The team has improved a lot since last year,” he mentioned.
One major addition many swimmers noted was 6 AM morning weight-room practice, where swimmers were invited and encouraged to prepare and build strength before the season started. “You would think you’d dread it,” Alison Sue (11) added, “It was actually really fun just to see everyone and hang out and work on improving together.” Junior Varsity Coach Shaan Vaishnav mentions having implemented a new regimen, increasing the number of sprint-focused sets. “I leaned too much into aerobic work last year,” Coach Shaan explained. “This year, we focused more on shorter, high-intensity sets, especially for sprinters.” He admits his strategy proved useful as many swimmers improved their times and techniques.
Along with the implementation of new routines and sets, there were technical issues with the Irvington pool’s chlorine filtering system that caused a few swimmers to catch chlorine poisoning, which temporarily halted practices until the problem was fixed.
While there were changes and unexpected circumstances throughout the season, many swimmers noted that this year’s team community and bonding were the strongest they have had thus far. Isabel Lam (11) describes this year’s senior night and championships as the most memorable. “The energy is just different. The cheering, the chants, just everything feels more special because we knew this is the last meet for seniors this season.” Alyson Tan agreed with this sentiment, highlighting how rewarding it is to see all the hard work pay off. “Watching your improvement throughout the season and celebrating it with your teammates is something you can’t really get anywhere else.”
With great strides, the swim team is proud to announce that numerous swimmers qualified for the North Coast Section (NCS) for many relays and individual events. The swimmers note how they’ve learned many lessons through their time competing for Irvington’s swimming and diving team this year that extend far beyond school. “Discipline and accountability are principles that go a long way in life,” Coach Tyler notes. For many swimmers, the biggest takeaway from swimming was learning to focus on personal growth and dedication rather than comparison.
Overall, this year’s swim team improved greatly throughout the year and hopes to continue building on its success and strengthen the team for future seasons.
