The swim team participated in the 10th annual Grapevine-Colleyville ISD (GCISD) Pentathlon meet on Sept. 30 at the LISD Eastside Aquatic Center.

“[We’ve been] working out harder,” coach Jason Chagnon said. “We’ve got a lot of new talent that’s moved up and that’s driving the rest of the program. But we haven’t had a meet to [compare] where we started from, to where we finish. It’s too early in the season to tell what we have so far, to be better than last year.”

The swim team started practice earlier this year. Since the Eastside Aquatic Center was under renovation last school year, the swim team had to practice at the LISD Aquatic Center.

“We got into the pool earlier this year, compared to last year, because our pool was under construction.” junior Ryan Hay said. “We gained a lot of freshman this year, and some of them are actually really good, so that’s something to look forward to this year in our team. I think we’ll definitely have some people go to regionals, but state is a long stretch this year.”

Going forward this season, the swim team is going against three teams that have challenged them in the past, Southlake, Flower Mound and Marcus. But because they see most of the swimmers during club programs and practices, the team knows what to expect.

“Southlake is always a competition,” Chagnon said. “Flower Mound has always been a very, very strong team. And Marcus always brings good girls and guys to the table. Between those three schools, it’s going to be rough going to the district meet. So we know what we’re going up against there. But we’ll do good.”

This is Hay’s third year on the team and he expects to improve his skills and achieve faster swim times.

“[Being on the team is] a lot of fun,” Hay said. “[Swim] has kept me fit and active. It was a great experience overall, getting to meet new people and getting to be in a sport. You get a clique and [the experience] helps you improve your high school career.”

Although Chagnon said he can not predict the future performance of other teams, he said he believes his team will do its best.

“Our kids will do the best that they can,” Chagnon said. “I have seen vast improvement across the board, from our freshman to our seniors. I can just look at my team and say we will do well.”