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By Vietanh Phuong Tran
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Apr. 15, 2008 |
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A faint chemical smell hangs in the air, emanating from a cold blanket of calm, forbidding water. A dim glow radiates from florescent lights, casting a morose glare reminiscent of interrogation rooms.
Into this glow steps a Lowell swimmer, who strolls to the pool's
edge and steps onto the starting block. To an onlooker, the surrounding
tension seems to vibrate every molecule in the atmosphere, and a
strange hum — is it the air conditioner? — reverberates his ears. Yet
the swimmer's eyes are as calm as the water.
The buzzer blares and the race is on. And as quickly as it began,
it is over. The swimmer climbs out of the pool, eyes still calm.
One distinguishing trait of Lowell swimmers is their lack of
nervousness prior to meets. It's not that they are machines, nor have
they disciplined emotion out of themselves. Instead, this calm stems
from confidence. According to senior girl’s co-captain Stephanie Yeh
and senior boys’ co-captain Henry Szeto, most of the season’s meets are
practices for the more important All-City trials and finals. "The
matches are not considered as big," Yeh said. "We always make it to
All-City."
Szeto feels that the meets are just for fun. In fact, most of the
competition is within the team. "We can lose every swim meet and still
get to take part in All-City," Szeto said.
However, this doesn't mean team members slack off; they still try
to win every race and improve their times. After all, they have a
reputation to keep — they must uphold their decade-long dominance of
the city's waters. Already, the team has defeated all four schools that
it faced this season. The match against Wallenberg on February 29 was
not even a contest. "Wallenberg forfeited our meet," Yeh recalled.
However, the citywide trials and finals that start on April 2 will
shake the calm from the Lowell swimmers. These events are the
culmination of a year of preparation. There, participants prove
themselves to their schools, and the experience gained through the
season’s meets becomes valuable. “We’ve been working toward this all
season,” Yeh said.
This year the team has an additional advantage: Yeh competed with
the Fog City Hammerheads club team and Szeto trained with the Rossi
Pool club team. In their opinion, the
lineup for Lowell is very strong this year, with battle-hardened
seniors, including the other boys’ co-captain Allen Du and girls’
co-captain Tracy Tang, and speedy sophomores forming the majority of
the unstoppable tidal wave. Watch them wash out their competition when
the Cardinals enter their final meet against Lincoln High School today
at 3:30 p.m. at King Pool.
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