The Aragon High School’s boys’ varsity swim team are the reigning Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) champions. And the Dons are no less formidable this year, with swimmers such as Gabe Anagnoson, who will swim Division 1 at Cornell in the fall. In short, the odds were not in the Panthers’ favor when they faced off against Aragon on Friday, April 12. Despite a discouraging start, the Panthers were determined to compete — including standout swimmers freshman Alexa Chang in the 500-meter freestyle and senior Sofia Kim in the 100-meter backstroke. The Panthers’ tenacity ultimately contributed to a girls’ varsity victory, earning 84 points overall, despite a loss by boys’ varsity. 

“Aragon is definitely a pretty good school so we were kind of uncertain,” junior co-captain Andrew Lee said. “But I’ve seen some really good swims and people are racing hard, being competitive. Going into the meet, [I wasn’t] so nervous, more that I had a desire to compete and see how hard I could go against the other swimmers.”

At this point in the season, Kim, Chang, sophomore Catherine Kwong, and a number of girls’ and boys’ relay teams have qualified for the Central Coast Section (CCS) championships on May 4. Among the three individual qualifiers, one is a freshman and another a sophomore, highlighting the team’s heavy underclassmen foundation.

“Last year we had a really big senior class and this year, we have a lot of younger athletes that are doing really well,” coach Stephanie Lee said. “Still, the [returning swimmers] are really good about showing the younger kids how we do things and what to do in meets.”

Kwong placed first in four events against Aragon, including one in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:07 and another in the 100-meter butterfly, taking just over a minute to complete the race. Although Kwong did not record personal bests on Friday, she is determined to do so during the PAL finals and the 100-meter butterfly race at the CCS championships — which will be her first CCS appearance in an individual event. 

“Right now in the season, we’re kind of training through it,” Kwong said. “We’re not really at the peak performance yet so I kind of have seen drops, but hopefully that can happen during our championship meet and finals.”

Kwong’s ambitions for a strong end-of-season performance seem to be common throughout the team. Andrew Lee missed last season’s CCS cut-offs in the 100-meter freestyle by seven-hundredths of a second, but he returns this year with the intent to earn a qualification during the PAL finals. 

“I’m going to use [our meet against] Woodside as one more chance to see how fast I can swim and play around with a few more race strategies which might not always yield the fastest times,” Andrew Lee said. “It’s going to be a way to find the best possible route and then PAL finals is going to be the best shot I have at the CCS qualification.”

Although competition remains a significant aspect of the sport, Andrew Lee argues that athletes wouldn’t experience the same success without their teammates cheering them on during races. 

“[This season] has been especially fun because for the past two years — my freshman and sophomore year — I practiced with my club and only came for high school meets so I didn’t have that sense of being part of a team,” Andrew Lee said. “It’s been great seeing everyone come together in this community.”

Along with Kim, senior Sam Punter and junior Jeannine Chiang,  co-captain Andrew Lee strives for a unified team. As the season comes to a close and the playoffs begin, they are planning occasional bonding events to strengthen the team’s chemistry — which they believe leads to better results in the pool.

“In swimming, unlike other sports, we run our practices and meet together with girls and boys and varsity and JV whereas in basketball and lacrosse you always have them separate,” Andrew Lee said. “So it’s really great because you can make new friends and everyone cheers for each other during the meets.”