Breaths in sync with his opponents, Julian Rusk ’27 glides through his 100-yard-breastroke. The 100-yard breaststroke was one of the most heated competitions of the day.
Accelerating forward, Zia Neves ’26 flies through her 50-yard-freestyle.This was Neves’ second MavWood meet of her High School career as she looked to improve upon last year.
Taking a stroke forward, Anila Modak ’24 pushes through her 100-yard-freestyle.
Taking the lead, NamAnh Truong cleanly rotates during her 100-yard-backstroke. Truong had a very successful day as she placed in multiple events including the 200-yard-relay.
Launching forward, Harrison Tater ’27 shoots off the blocks. The Warriors pride themselves on having created quality shoots in order to minimize their time.
On Thursday, Oct. 5, Swim and Dive competed and hosted the MavWood invitational at the Round Rock Natatorium. Typically this is a bigger meet, jam-packed with teams as close as McNeil to teams as far as San Antonio.
Starting off the brisk 9 a.m. morning with the 200-medley-relays, both girls and boys triumphed in taking podium spots. NamAnh Truong ‘26, Leah Zhang ‘26, Sophia He ‘25, and Jaden Steen ‘24 stole ahead nearly an exact second above Vandegrift. Lined up right after, the boys were bested by both Vandegrift and Round Rock by mere milliseconds and received third place.
Multiple swimmers won individual spotlight as well with He taking the 200-yard-individual-medley and 100-yard-breast by storm. Troung sealed first in the 50-yard-free and shaved off hard-fought time in her 100-yard-backstroke with a final time of 59.37. Raphael Wang ‘25 successfully claimed second in the 200-yard-individual-medley, with Harrison Tater ‘27 right on his trail in fifth place. In the boy’s 100-yard-backstroke, Westwood dominated in the top ten, with Wang taking first, Steven Ma ‘25 a stroke away landing in second, Tarun Kurkal ‘24 in fifth, and Max Laine ‘27 in seventh.
In the 200-yard-freestyle relays, He touched to an impressive 23.84 and rounded off the relay to a 1:40:03. The boys relay team consisting of Dillon Shadowen ‘24, Zachary Goh ‘25, Julian Rusk ‘27, and Josh Lee ‘26 all swam noteworthy 22’s but unfortunately lost to Ronald Reagan High School by 0.94 seconds, and Round Rock by 2.05 seconds. However, they were quick to make up for their loss with their 400-freestyle-relay, as Wang ripped out a 47.25 100-yard swim and together with his team, took second 0.11 seconds ahead of Ronald Reagan.
Unfortunately, this meet did not go as well for the Warriors as the combined score through all races failed to overcome the Vipers’. This may have been due to physical exhaustion from the week as club teams are in the height of their training season, the long duration of the meet, and because most people swam unfamiliar events.
“Everyone swam their off events.” Captain Ivan Leong ‘24 said, “I think everyone could have done better.”
Additionally, unlike the previous meets, team spirit remained at an all-time low. During individual events, the lack of cheering motivation was clear.
“Cheering is the biggest problem we have right now.” Leong said, “If we can keep the cheering up like we did at the district opener, morality will be increased and I think we can swim faster.”
Swim and Dive will compete next on Tuesday, Oct. 17th at Westlake High School.
