Story and Photo by Anthony Vaquera, Staff Writer
The men’s swim and dive season is just around the corner and the new team is preparing for their first match.
They will travel to El Camino College on Friday, Feb.14 at 10 a.m. for their first meet. After not making it to the postseason last year, the Chargers will be working to change their luck after a strong showing this weekend.
Head coach Frisk Driscoll stated, “this is the most talented team we have had in the four years I have been here, and we expect to finish top three in the conference.” He continued that the Orange Empire Conference is the most competitive with strong teams, but he believes they are qualified to compete with the very best of them.
He highlighted players to look out for, including Gio Demuro, Eoin Tannehill, and Niccolo Scornaienghi–who he believes could break school records and make a deep run in state. In previous years we have never had these many swimmers who can make a difference.
Driscoll expects the team to maintain a positive attitude even though they only have two returning players, “…the team is very new with only two returns so it’s going to take time for everyone to get used to the new system.”
From what Driscoll sees from his players so far, he is looking forward to this season and observing their potential as a team. After struggling at last year’s Cuesta Invitational, where they only had three swimmers for the competition, Driscoll said, “the relay races had the most difficulty with not enough swimmers […] this year, [I anticipate] that will change with the team now having 10 swimmers for all events. This event is used as a measuring stick to separate the good teams from the great ones.
Driscoll stated that technique can be taught but the personal drive of each player is what is making the difference this season. Each player is expected to always give 100%.
To learn more about Men’s Swim and Dive, visit the Cypress College Athletics Website.
