The Arcadia High School Varsity Swim team won first place out of twenty teams at the La Quinta High School Swim Meet on Mar. 5. 

This meet was a co-ed relay-only meet, meaning unlike usual meets where boys and girls are separated, they swam together. The teams were picked by swim team coaches, Coach Janice Clark and Coach Sam Norconk. Varsity members were placed on the A-Team, while JV members were placed on the B-Team. The B-Team placed 12th out of the 20 teams. 

In each event, there were four boys and four girls, alternating, with the exception of the 12×50 Freestyle Relay with six boys and six girls. Every place has a number of points attached to it, with the first place receiving 34 points. Second place received 31 points, and the following places received one-less point each. A disqualification would result in 0 points. 

The events held at the meet were the 8×100 Individual Medley, 12×50 Freestyle Relay, 8×50 Breaststroke Relay, 8×50 Butterfly Relay, 8×50 Backstroke Relay, 8×100 Freestyle Relay, and the 8×50 Medley. 

I spoke with sophomore Jolene Shen and senior Bethany Chow from the swim team regarding their experience. 

“Because this was an only-relay meet, we all had to cooperate to place first! Swimming alongside my friends was extremely fun,” said Shen. “The other schools’ swimmers did put up a good fight, but the reason why I think Arcadia placed on top was because of our good synergy as well as all of us being placed in our strongest types of strokes.”

“This meet was actually formally called the Los Amigos relay meet because it was held at Los Amigos high school…I would say the change in location played a big part in making this year different,” shared Chow. “Because La Quinta High School has a much more open pool deck, it allowed more spectators…[creating] a really encouraging atmosphere for everyone.”

How fun was the meet?

“It’s always fun to swim co-ed just because it’s so different from what swimmers are used to,” said Chow. “In our individual events, we always swim against the same gender, and normal relays are also competitions against the same sex.” 

“The whole experience was absolutely unreal. Our team captains outdid themselves by buying us breakfast, bringing snacks, and taking photos,” said Shen. “Obviously, waking up early was a pain, but being with your friends for the whole morning was really fun and winning the meet was the cherry on top.”

Arcadia’s swim team will continue to have many meets that you can follow here. Hopefully, they will be able to continue their winning streak throughout the season!

Photo courtesy of AUSD Facebook