By: Kennedi Canova
Fremont’s swim team has been working hard in practice and meets this season in preparation for their most anticipated events of the year: regionals on Saturday, February 3, and state on February 23-24. Regionals were held at the South Davis Rec Center in Bountiful and the state meet which was held at BYU in late February.
Austin Simmons, a senior on the boys’ swim team, said “This year we were expected to do quite a bit worse than previous years, and it was definitely a struggle for the first half of the season, especially since there aren’t that many of us on the team. But I think we shaped up nicely, we’ve grown a ton and have done pretty good in relays!
Mr. Shupe, the head swim coach here at Fremont, also talked about the great progress that was made this season. “People have been willing to step up and try new things with the reduced number of people on the team this year. They have tried events that they normally wouldn’t have wanted to try and it’s resulted in some of the best swims of the year!”
Devin Harris, a senior on the boy’s swim team, talked about his record breaking swim at a meet against Syracuse, Davis, and Farmington on January 11. He set the record for the 50 yard freestyle in which the previous record was 22.77. Devin’s time was 22.57 seconds.
“My main motivation this swim season was to break the 50 free record and that’s all I could think about since I got so close last season. After I got the record I had my sights on being the first person to go under 22 seconds for a 50 free at Fremont.”
Besides working hard on improving their personal performances throughout the season, the teams (boys and girls) set a goal to utilize teamwork and create a friendly, hardworking environment. When students on the team were asked what they think played a major role in their personal improvement, most of the responses had something to do with the supportive environment that was created by the team and coaches throughout the year.
Addison Bullock, a senior on the girls’ swim team, said “I feel like everyone on the team has done a great job at creating an easygoing environment. I always look forward to coming to swim to talk to my friends and to have a good time.”
Another factor that seemed to be very beneficial to the team this year was the addition of a new coach. Devin Harris said “The addition of new coaches such as Josh Provost, who is an alumni, has been a big boost to the team. He has a different type of coaching style opposed to Shupe, the head coach, and the difference is nice. Josh really pushes us when he is coaching and he has a lot of good pointers for all of us swimming.”
Overall, Fremont’s swim team grew tremendously throughout the 2023-2024 season and will continue to improve as they start again next season.
