Swim and dive to participate in TISCA meet

Photo by Aparnna Manoj

The swim and dive team practices at the Eastside Aquatic Center the morning of a Hebron Hawks invitational.

Swim and Dive will participate in the Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (TISCA) invitational on Nov. 15 through 17 at the LISD Aquatic Center West.

In order to participate in the meet, coaches make time cuts to see who is eligible to compete in the various contests. Once time cuts are made, the coaches place swimmers and divers in competitions they are best in.

“We are looking forward to seeing some fast swims and great sportsmanship,” swim coach Jason Chagnon said. “This is a great meet for swimmers to get a gauge on the competition in our district and region.”

Junior Matthew Alverez is swimming in four events: the 200 Free Relay, the 100 Freestyle Individual, and the 50 Free Individual. This is Alverez’s second time participating at a TISCA invitational.

“Our coach has been pushing us harder than last year,” Alverez said. “This past week has been hard practice; nothing like we’ve had so far. Our coach let’s us go over and pulls us out of the water to have a one-on-one to tell us what we have to do in order to get better.”

Junior Quinton Frank participated in TISCA during his sophomore year. Frank said he has put in work during practice to finetune his skills for starts, turns and finishes.

“The main thing that is keeping me motivated is the record board,” Frank said. “I look up at the board everyday and it’s a reminder of how hard I need to try and how fast I need to go.”

The team has reached mid-season and will be preparing for district and region meets after the TISCA meet.

“I’ve been trying to work on my technique,” Alverez said. “I want to get a better feeling of how I would swim in an actual meet. Since most of our team does sprint events, swimming and our events have to come through second nature. So us going forward from this year to next year, there’s going to be a lot more experience in how we can relay together.”