On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the girls swim team placed seventh and the boys team placed fifth in the Seminole Athletic Conference championships at Lake Howell. With a total of 48 and 52 accumulated points,  both teams are well on their way to accomplishing their seasonal goals.

Seniors Gina Dillulo and Valentina Perez placed ninth and tenth respectively during their 200 yard Individual Medley (IM). Both agree that their performances, having swam the 200 IM, 100 yard backstroke, 200 yard medley relay and a 200 yard free relay, leave room for improvement. 

“In my individuals, I wasn’t too happy with where my times were [at] but I realized that I’m literally in the middle of training for this season so I understand that my body is tired,” Dillulo said.

Perez agrees with this sentiment, appreciating her current standings for where they are. 

“I felt pretty good about my performance. I stopped doing club swimming about ten months ago. While I’m  in shape from workouts I’ve been doing on my own, I know I am not in swimming shape,” Perez said. “So being where I was at the meet with my times made me happy.”

Senior Sam Perez said that given the circumstances, both teams performed better than expected. 

“There was really bad weather for about an hour so our session got pushed back,” Perez said. “Despite that, I felt really good, but at the same time I knew it wasn’t my best performance. Still, [we] have a little time until regional, so there’s room for improvement.”

Perez placed fourth in his 200 yard IM as well as seventh in the 100 yard Butterfly, joined by junior Andrew LeClair, who placed 6th in the 200 yard IM and 19th in the 50 yard freestyle and sophomore Griffin Zinck, who placed 13th in the boys 100 yard freestyle.

Having to adhere to the new Covid-19 procedures, both teams were required to warm-up and compete separately while following CDC social distancing guidelines. All participants are required to wear masks in between events and spectators are prohibited. 

Swimmers on both teams feel that the precautions have been well-adapted and will allow them to continue on with their season.

“It’s unfortunate that we have less meets and everything’s super strict,” Perez said. “I do feel safe though and that’s really what matters.”

The teams will continue to prepare for their upcoming district regional matches.