In fact, they’re downright hostile — especially when it concerns rolling up the lane lines, a job that is expected of the last swimmers to leave the pool.

“Rolling up the lines is a cleanup ritual expected of the swimmers,” assistant coach Jeffrey Yang said. However, swimmers like Tang expect a little more courtesy.

“Our coach tells us to do it because it’s a lot of work for the lifeguards, so even though it’s not our job, we do it anyway,” Tang said. “The newer lifeguards just watch us do it without even offering to help out.”

Senior captain Emily Shaw agreed. “We’ve gotten yelled at for rolling up the lane lines sloppily and for leaving kickboards out.”

Coach Art Octavio is working to fix the swim team’s other concern: insufficient pool space. Currently, he is trying to negotiate with San Francisco State University about using its pool to help take care of the clogged lane issue, which can sometimes result in up to 20 swimmers sharing a lane.

Despite grumpy lifeguards and limited practice space, Lowell swam very well in the highly competitive St. Ignatius Invitational, an open swim meet that includes the entire Bay Area.

“The girls placed third overall and the boys placed second, beating S.I. for the first time ever,” Yang said.

“It was pretty fun and we all swam really well,” Tang sad. “We would have won if not for Burlingame.”

Lowell’s next meet is against O’Connell at 4 p.m. today at Garfield Swimming Pool.