On Thursday, March 27, varsity swim rounded out the first half of their season with a 101-61 win for the girls against Mills High School, and a 101-64 loss for the boys. While the boys were unable to secure the win in this meet, success from earlier in the season, particularly from sophomore Justin Chiang, has been evident.
“This year [Chiang] has been going crazy. There’s no other way to describe it. Last year as a freshman, he was already improving. He had huge improvements. And then this year, I mean, he’s worked very hard, and I think he’s in a very, very good position to be a competitor at [the Central Coast Section playoffs]. He’s qualified in both the 200 and 100 free-[style],” senior captain Andrew Lee said. “It was the Woodside meet [when he qualified], and we were all cheering for him, and he absolutely crushed the qualification times on both [races].”
Chiang isn’t the only underclassman to qualify for CCS; sophomore Alexa Chang has also clinched CCS qualifications in both her races for the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly. The 200 medley relay and 200 free relay for the girls has also already qualified for CCS, which, according to junior Catherine Kwong, has helped take the pressure off for later meets.
“Going into the season, we were pretty confident we would get [qualifications] soon. So we’re glad to get that over with so we can just focus on our individual events the rest of the season,” Kwong said.
The team is working on not just reducing individual teams but also keeping up team spirit for future meets.
“We want to see a lot more team energy at meets, because we think that will help kind of in those tight races. So we’re working on that,” coach Stephanie Lee said.
Captain Andrew Lee is also focused on moving towards more race day preparation rather than increasing mileage, to prepare for the intensity and energy of actual races.
“We’ve kind of communicating to the coaches that we want to, do more race pace stuff during practices kind of cutting down on the volume, maybe especially because high school meets are in terms of the yardage, they’re much shorter club meet,” Lee said. “So really bringing down the yardage, but really amping up the intensity is what we’ve been trying to be pushing for.
But for Lee, his focus is not on his individual times, or a certain place for the team in the rankings, but creating an inclusive community for all Burlingame swimmers.
“Swim in high school is more about the community than just individual times. And as for me, in my position right now, I don’t swim club anymore, so I’m not looking to drop crazy times, or, any of that stuff,” Lee said. “What I really want to do is just set the tone for next year set a really positive yet competitive environment, just for everyone else. So I just want to make sure everyone feels that they are a part of this community before I graduate.”
