The End of Swim Season

One of the prettiest sunsets from pre-season swim when all of the swimmers were finally on the pool deck together.

Emma Safari, Photojournalist

As the spring season slowly comes to an end, the Yorba Linda High School’s swim season finally comes to a close as well. From the harsh and cold winter, which was packed with uncalled for hail storms and extremely heavy rains, to the sunny season that emerged towards the end, the team has been through a lot together. “I’m going to miss all of the smiling faces, positive attitudes, and encouraging words everyone on the team showed after swimming an event. My favorite memory this season was counting for Sadie’s 500 during the league finals,” shares Sydney Hendrie (10).

With practice every day from 2:45-4:45 and almost a meet every week, the swimmers worked hard this season. All four teams–girls junior varsity, boys junior varsity,  girls varsity, and boys varsity–worked incredibly hard and had lots of fun together. “I’m going to miss watching my swimmers achievements, discipline, and their passion to be better than their rivals,” says Coach Karylnn (Coach).

Over the past few years, swimming has helped me build a lot of friendships that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to make. I will forever be grateful to have had the chance to be a part of such a wonderful team.

— Sydney Hendrie (10).

The Yorba Linda High School swim team has always treated each other as a second family. With the amount of  time they spend with each other, they practically are. And despite many of the earlier meets in the season being canceled due to the unpredictable weather, the team still managed to make many fun and happy memories with one another. “Over the past few years, swimming has helped me build a lot of friendships that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to make. I will forever be grateful to have had the chance to be a part of such a wonderful team,” continues Sydney Hendrie (10). Another swimmer, Chloe Skagen (11) adds “My favorite part about swim season was being able to make new friends, and my favorite memory was watching my best friend Emma swim a personal record on her 100 fly during League Finals!”

After the 2022-2023 season ended, it also meant that many of the swimmers swam in League Finals and a certain few swam in CIF. The swimmers swam hard and followed their coaches motto of ‘Swim fast and do not be last’.  The competition was tough against Villa Park, El Modena, and El Dorado: girls junior varsity was the only team to win in league. Unfortunately, a few of the swimmers were unable to participate in CIF and Sydney Bell was the only one to represent Yorba Linda High School. During CIF, Sydney swam a personal record for her school season but did not progress to the next round.