Riverside’s swim team is off to a great start this season and has been training hard for the Fraser Valley Championship. On October 25, the team went to the swim meet; however, due to a power outage during the meet, it has peen postponed to November 8.
The last meet the team competed in was the District Championship swim meet on October 12. The meet was a success with the Riverside girls relay team (Ella Aspinall, Emma Schulmeister, Ryann McCready and Angelina Burton) and the boys (Angelo Macraig, Trey Schwingenschloegl, Gavin Hoeverman and Cole Haaksma) both winning the 200m medley relay. Swimming is a very competitive sport and training takes a lot of time.
How do swimmers balance the pressure of swimming and the work they do in and out of school? Grade ten Riverside swimmer, Cole Haaksma has a way of handling his priorities, both academically and athletically. “It isn’t difficult for me to balance both school work and swimming at the same time because I usually do my homework at school during lunch of if I have some free time, in class. It’s convenient because I can have a few extra hours before and after school to just focus on swimming,” said Haaksma.
Grade ten Riverside swimmer, Gavin Hoeverman, mentioned how confidence and intimidation is key to winning a race. “I always show up to my meets looking and feeling confident. I also give an intimidating look to my competitor, so he knows that I have the upper edge on him,” said Hoeverman.
Where does the team practice? How many hours do they need? Grade 11 Riverside swimmer, Ryann McCready, competes in many school and community sports. She trains whenever she can. “The school swim team starts out at the outdoor Eagle Ridge pools and then we switch to the CCAC to swim indoors for morning swims. During the school year, I swim two days a week in the mornings and we have competitions every other week,” said McCready.
The swimmers on the team include: Matthew Hetrea, Gavin Hoeverman, Luise Matias, Angelo Macraig, Tobiasz Majerkiewics, Angelina Burton, Ella Aspinall, Ryann McCready, Cole Haaksma, Trey Scwingenschloegl, Aiden Schulmeister, Joshua Ma, Shelby Connely, Rozhan Saadati and Angel Peret.
The 2018 swim team looks promising. The amount of hard work and dedication each individual swimmer commits is appreciated. Good luck at the Fraser Valley Championship.
