San Benito Aquatics is developing some of the area’s best
swimmers
Hollister – For a relatively small swim club with modest resources at its disposal, the San Benito Aquatics swim team is turning in some impressive results in the ultra-competitive world of club swimming.
And, what’s more important, the kids who make up the team have a lot of fun in the pool, even given all of the hard work that goes into it.
Yes, these kids love to swim, and they are doing quite well with it these days. Due to the fact that San Benito Aquatics has to work their practice schedule around what is happening with the high school pool, as the SBHS facility is the team’s only local option for practice, they get in maybe half as much time in the pool as some of their competitors.
But you wouldn’t know it if you were to look at some of their results.
Just last month, the team brought home second place at the Zone Championship Meet, an event that featured 1470 swimmers making up 21 different teams, at the Santa Clara Swim Center.
Highlights from the meet included three personal-best times from Stephanie Ego, coming in the 50 fly with a time of 41.63, the 100 IM and the 100 free, with a time of 1:20.92.
Joshua McIntyre swam personal-best times in all six of his events and Shelli Reed not only posted personal-best times in all six of the events, she placed in all six as well. Her time in the 100 fly was 1:03.11, fourth place in the AA group.
Demi Gatrell placed in all six events and had three personal-best times.
San Benito Aquatics obviously has the competitive side of the sport down. But the team isn’t just for already-strong swimmers. In fact, children as young as five years old have taken their first ever strokes in the water as members of the team and, within a few months, they’re competing in meets.
Once they get going in the pool, it’s all business. The work ethic demanded of everyone who competes on the team is huge. But the kids seem to really enjoy the time in the pool, even when they’re in the middle of a multiple-mile swim.
“Usually, the kids who are with the team for a while develop a really strong work ethic,” said coach and parent Cathy Larson, who has three children on the team. “To be able to swim up to four miles a day in practice takes a huge level of commitment, it’s very hard work.”
San Benito Aquatics is getting into the heart of the season with some tough meets against clubs from cities like Monterey, Salinas and Gilroy.
Look for continued coverage here as the club’s season progresses.
