Swim Team Places First for Girls and Boys in Charity Meet

Amy Ma, Reporter| October 2, 2017

  • Ian Bradford ’18 strokes through the last lap of the 100 freestyle.

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  • Natalie Caro ’21 and Molly Sparrow ’21 dive into the first length of the 100 freestyle.

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  • Joshua Louie ’20 dives off the block to start the 100 freestyle.

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  • Staley Varozza ’18 takes off in the 50 freestyle.

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  • Eli Blinchevsky ’19 takes a breath in the breatstroke leg of the 200 individual medley.

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  • Nathan Early ’20 takes a breath during the butterfly portion of the 200 individual medley.

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  • Grace Bradford ’20 dives into the water to start her 200 freestyle.

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  • Kyle Varozza ’18 strokes ahead of the competition in the 200 medley relay.

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  • Ashlyn Carroll ’18 pulls ahead in the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay.

    Stephanie Shih
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  • Haley Betron ’20 shoots through a stroke in the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay.

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The swim team held a charity swim meet at Waterloo Swimming on Sept. 30. Three schools including Westwood, McNeil, and Stony Point high schools participated in this charity meet that was held for a coach, Daniel Alvarez, who was diagnosed with leukemia. Coach Alvarez was a coach at Waterloo Swimming, where the Warriors trained every morning along with McNeil and Anderson. Outside of high school swimming, many students participated in club swimming at Waterloo, and Coach Alvarez being their coach. Over the past year, many students have formed a close relationship with Coach Alvarez, and were sad to see one of their favorite coaches leave for treatment.

“Daniel has been a coach of many Westwood swimmers,” Nathan Early ‘20 said. “With me personally, he was very influential and inspiring not only with his attitude but also with his coaching.”

At the swim meet, sponsors such as Jolyn, competitive women’s swimwear, and Bush’s Chicken were there selling their products and donating the money to the fundraiser. So far, $27,298 have been earned out of a $50,000 goal. With many swimmers spreading the word of donating a couple of dollars to Coach Alvarez’s treatment, lots of money has been raised in just a few weeks. Before Coach Alvarez left for Colorado for treatment, many swimmers paid visits to him in the hospital, wishing him the best and saying goodbye until he came back to visit.

“Coach Daniel is a very lovable coach who is funny, nice, and knows what he’s doing when it comes to coaching,” Ethan Riser ‘19 said. “To Westwood, a small majority of the swimmers at Westwood were coached by him and many more students here who are not on the Warriors swim team was also coached by Daniel.”

This meet went well, not only in its fundraising for Coach Alvarez, but also for the Warriors, who brought home the overall win with the girls’ and boys’ teams first place trophy. The Warriors were able to win every relay in the meet, and coach Matt McBrearty was happy to see many time drops. It’s still early in the season, but the swim team had won every meet and the swimmers are looking to be in good shape.

“Daniel was my coach for just over a year. He was an amazing coach and knew how to push his swimmers,” Nidhi Hegde ‘21 said. “The meet was great. Everyone did really well and tried their hardest. The effort level of our team was incredible.”

The swim team will hold a Distance Challenge next Friday, Oct. 6. In this challenge, students will either wear a costume and swim half a mile or not dress up and swim a mile.