The varsity boys swim team is gearing up for their season.

Sophomore Tyson Holt knows what is most important for the team, the biggest meets of the season.

“Probably the County and Mid-state meets are most important because it proves what we are capable of for Sectionals,” Holt said.

Sophomore Griffin Kroll agreed, providing similar meets that are important.

“Our championship meets are our most important, such as Midstate and Sectionals are very important for us. It’s important for us because it moves our season on,” Kroll said. 

Junior Emmanuel Jackson will focus instead on scouting out competition during the championship meets.

“Our important meets are county and conference to give us the best look at what competition we have to offer and compete against. For example, Mooresville has a similar team to us with a swimmer who committed to Ball State. He won two Sectional events last year, the 100 Free and the 50 Free,” Jackson said.

The team is different this year. Many seniors graduated but new people have joined this year.

“We lost a lot of seniors who played large roles both in and out of the pool, which changed the team a lot. We lost half of our team. They did a lot for the team due to their performances. For example, Ethan Rose placed in the top eight in both of his events at Sectionals,” Kroll said.

Jackson agreed with Kroll.

“Our mindset and approach to the competition is very different and lots of things to work towards with a young team. Since we don’t have our seniors that we could rely on, we will have to work harder now during the off season to improve ourselves,” Jackson said.

Even though the preseason just started, Holt said the team has a strong future.

“The team is very close with each other, and the hard work and discipline reflecting off of each teammate brings us together in a much stronger way,” Holt said.

Holt said the team has potential and pointed out members to watch.

“Our key returnees are sophomores Nick McCoy, Tyson Holt, and Griffin Kroll, and for the juniors it’s David Brenton and Emmanuel Jackson,” Holt said.

Kroll agreed with Holt about the most exciting swimmers to follow.

“Our biggest key returners are Emmanuel Jackson and Nick McCoy. They can definitely win something this year. They have shown promise in the past and will continue to improve. Nick will primarily compete in the 100 Breaststroke, 200 Freestyle, and 500 Freestyle. Along with Emmanuel swimming mostly events like the 100 Backstroke and the 200 Individual Medley,” Kroll said.

Finally, the team’s goals are important because the more meets they win, the better they could be next year.

“We are hoping to win every meet going into championship season. We just have to stay focused and perform our best,” Holt said.

Kroll’s ideas for the team goals are different, however.

“I think our team wants to place in the Top 3 or 4 in Sectionals. That would be pretty good for us because we placed top three last year, so if we continue to place high in Sectionals behind Franklin Community and Center Grove, that will show that we are still a strong team even when losing a lot of key swimmers,” Kroll said.

Jackson instead focused on personal goals.

“Some personal goals are to go to State and win Sectionals or to get a personal record. I think I could really do good this year,” Jackson said.