Sophia Goldberg, staff writer
Both the boys and girls relay teams and two individual swimmers, Jamie Dodd and Amy Okada on the varsity swim team, qualified for CIF following the swim meet on March 17, 2016.
The meet was held at Brentwood School, and the head coach for Brentwood, Robert Bowie, coached the Beverly swim team three years ago.
“The first positive from the meet was of course beating Brentwood. It was so fun racing them knowing that their current coach used to coach for the Beverly team three years ago,” co-captain Skylar Smith, who qualified for CIF in both of her relay events, said. “Also, for most of the freshman, it was their first time racing and most succeeded beyond expectations, which was amazing.”
Smith believes the team performed very well against Brentwood. She also states that in order for herself to improve, she must focus on the details to lower her times.
“The team did amazing. We totally crushed Brentwood, and we won most of our events. I did pretty well, but I’m still trying to beat my personal records,” Smith said. “Next swim meet I want to beat my best times and qualify for my individual races. I plan on working more on the little details like dives and turns to drop the seconds I need.”
Freestyle swimmer Eli Aminpour, who placed third in his 50-yard event, believes that the new style of sprint swimming, called Ultra Short Race-Pace Training, is helpful to the team’s all-around success.
“Our new practice style, ‘USRPT,’ has us work on building up our speed. You sprint one lap at a time with short breaks in between, each one where you swim as fast as you can,” Aminpour said.
Smith mentions that practice at Beverly is strenuous, but the results of the new weight training program in specific are beneficial to improving one’s form.
“Practice is literally three hours of sweat and tears, it pushes our body beyond its normal limits making it easier for us to drop times for upcoming meets,” Smith said. “The weight training helps us so much, in the strength to be able to grab more water and in the power to be able to push off the walls faster.”