At Potomac Falls, the Varsity Boys Swim Team has been excellent throughout the past few years. The team won all six of its meets last year, putting up a combined score of 1,063 points over the course of five meets. This success isn’t something out of the ordinary for the Panthers, but with a new coach following Coach Deker’s retirement, it was a little surprising. Coach April Meyer clearly did a good job, given the shoes she had to fill.

  “I think Coach Meyer did well for being thrust into such big shoes to fill following Coach Deker, but she can still get a lot better from learning from some of the swimmers,” said senior Ben Ortt.

 The swim team is clearly goal-oriented, with players like senior Denys Ovchynnikov being primarily focused on the team-bonding. Ovchynnikov‘s favorite thing about swimming is the IHOP parties that occur after successful meets.

  While clearly the team is optimistic about Coach Meyer’s potential, she should be able to win back any strays in the upcoming season.

 The team has some realistic goals for this upcoming season, but swimming is more than just a team sport. Swimming, at its basics, is an individual sport. Swimmers have created some goals for this upcoming season.

 “Everyone is fighting for new personal records, and with that comes a faster team; so, I myself plan on working hard at every practice, and hopefully improve/maintain our great team by improving myself first. Also I plan on delivering some motivational speeches if I become captain,” said Ovchynnikov.

 But what each swimmer clearly feels is most important is their community.

 “I enjoy swimming because of the great sense of community on the team. I’ve played 4 different sports and none of them compare to the community on the swim team,” said Ortt.

 With the learning curve of a new coach and the loss of over half of the team due to graduates, the varsity boys swim team will certainly have an exciting season.

 Dates and locations of meets can be found on their website:

http://potomacfallsathletics.org/main/teamschedule/id/20921/seasonid/4170590