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By Ashley Wu
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Mar. 25, 2009 |
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Excitement burns through the air as supporters on the sidelines cheer on their teams. Meanwhile, sophomore Valerie Khaw looks down with an encouraging smile at her freshman teammate Aisia Azus as she waits to switch places in the 200-yard backstroke relay.
The varsity swim team continues to dominate the other schools in the city, proving superior in the water.
On March 13, the Cardinals crushed the Washington Eagles at King Pool. “They had some pretty fast swimmers that hung with us for a lot longer than usual, but we still dominated,” junior Nicholas Kwan said.
On March 6, Wallenberg was left in the foam as the Lowell team sped by. The next day Lowell placed second behind SI in the long awaited Saint Ignatius Citywide Invitational Meet. The Lowell boys came within five points to beating the SI team. “SI won at the end because of numbers,” junior Kevin Lee said.
Even if the Cardinals didn’t take first at the SI invitational, going to the invitational allowed the team to prove themselves to the other Bay Area schools. “I feel that every one of the SI invitationals allows for Lowell students to experience what it’s like to compete against other Bay Area schools and not just SFUSD schools, which pose no threat to Lowell,” Lee said.
On Feb. 27, the team took on Galileo and outswam the Lions without a sweat. “It was basically Lowell vs. Lowell while Galileo had their own little pool party in the warm-up lane,” Khaw said.
During the Feb. 20 swim meet against all of the schools in the city, senior captain Stanford Chun set the lead in one of the 200-yard butterfly relays. During that same heat, junior Stanton Huang, the final swimmer in the relay team, sped to catch up to Lincoln’s third swimmer, finishing the race before Lincoln’s fourth swimmer even had a chance to get into the water.
While the Cardinals are slashing through the water well ahead of their opponents, there is some jealousy from rival schools. The captain of rival school Washington High tried to work up their competitive spirit by making their team buy “Beat Lowell” shirts.
Rather than being threatened, the Lowell swimmers feel honored by Washington’s “Beat Lowell” shirts. “I don’t think it’s really bad sportsmanship; it just shows the Washington team’s enthusiasm,” Lee said. “It also reveals that Washington thinks of Lowell as a worthy opponent.”
Come support the swim team in their domination of other swim teams in the city at 3:30 p.m. today at the Balboa Pool against Balboa High School.
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