By Whitney Kiepura
Guest Writer
In a season opener with many first, second and third place finishes, Prospect boys’ swimming took on Schaumburg’s Saxons. Some of the top finishes were senior Matt Rendino’s second place finish in the 50 meter freestyle race with a time of 26.3 seconds. In the 200 meter freestyle race, junior Andrew Younger won first place with a time of 2:10.99. And in the 100 meter butterfly race, Prospect swept the event with senior Phillip Dukes, freshman Michael Morikado and junior Carter Mau taking first, second and third.
For freshman Jessie Sykes, this meet was a tad “intimidating”. But he said, “The feeling wore off as soon as I touched the water.”
With 28 new swimmers, the 20 returning members are challenged in practice to keep their places in races.
According to Lopez, all the new swimmers are helping the whole team.
“The freshmen are just trying to impress the coach (by swimming hard in practice), but they still challenge the returning members,” Lopez said.
“It’s a battle to keep our spots,” Junior and three-year varsity member Andrew Younger said. “Everyone’s motivated at practice so they can keep their spots in the meets.”
But despite the large roster Lopez is taking the increase in stride, “It’s just the ebb and flow of swimming,” he said. “Some years are big, like our junior class, and some years are smaller, like our seniors.”