On Tuesday, February 4, the South Windsor Boys Swim Team competed against East Hartford in 11 events, winning with an overall score of 95-77.
Over the course of the night, many swimmers made personal records or qualified for the CIAC boys state tournament.
Senior Mohnish Srivatsav qualified for states in the hundred breaststroke.
“Tuesday’s meet was a great meet, and I was really happy with how I performed. Seeing my times continue to drop and feeling more confident in my new events was a huge highlight. Plus, the energy from my teammates kept me motivated and allowed me to push myself to make a state cut,” Srivastav said.
Another important part of the evening was the diving section, in which freshman Beyan Mohamed, sophomore Ian Park, seniors Emma Cherubini and Dylan Baumgartner competed with no opponents to push the team even further ahead. With relays earning a team more points than individual races, it’s important to the team that they focus on those. South Windsor achieved winning first in the 200 yard medley relay, 200 yard freestyle relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay. With just those three events, they were able to put up 36 points on the board.
With so many events during the meet, coaches may ask swimmers to switch to an event that they don’t compete in often to switch things up. Srivastav experienced this during the season.
“Adjusting to different events was definitely a challenge at first, but I’ve learned to embrace it and trust my training. Also, staying consistent with technique and endurance while pushing for faster times has taken a lot of focus,” Srivastav explained. The most popular event of the meet is the individual 50 freestyle, with three heats competing.
The team and their coaches all hope they can make their last improvements to make the states cut if they haven’t already.
“Making states was a big goal of mine, so now I’m excited to keep training hard and see how much more I can improve before then. I’m also looking forward to the championship meets and seeing how our team performs as a whole,” Srivastav told The Prowl.
The boys swim season comes to a close in a matter of weeks with Senior Night occurring on February 11th at Star Hill Athletic Center in Tolland, one of their last big events.
