The end of the season is upon us, and we made it! It has been a crazy year to say the least, and yet we look forward to having a final taper meet to our season and putting a cap on what has been a challenging year for our team. Our guys are excited to be able to taper down for a meet against multiple opponents for the first time this season. We will end our season at the Gustavus pool swimming against GAC as well as St. Thomas and Hamline. While the season has been broken apart and the training in earnest didn’t begin until January, we are looking very strong and I fully expect to be able to end on a high note as a team and with some great individual efforts.
We had our first competition this season in early February against St. Thomas. We swam well but it was obvious we had a bit of rust in our competition. We looked forward to building on that meet the following weekend against Hamline, however, we couldn’t compete that weekend due to a power outage on campus. So, facing yet another adverse situation our guys stepped up and swam against Gustavus the following weekend. While this is clearly one of the deepest and fastest Gustavus team’s I’ve seen, we swam well and had a lot of great swims.
Our divers, while because of the pandemic have basically run separate from the swim team, have also had some success. Jack Grabinski and Connor Reed (sophomores) went 1 and 2 respectively against Gustavus on February 27, posting some great scores, including Jack’s lifetime and second best in the history of St. John’s 11 dive 3m score of 542.06. While he still has a ways to go to catch John Deters (about 50 points) it has been amazing to watch Jack develop over the last two seasons. Both Jack and Connor have posted Regional Qualifying score this year and last, and Jack qualified for NCAAs as a freshman last year (and most certainly would have qualified against this year) but had the opportunity ripped away by the pandemic. I look forward to having NCAAs again next year and giving Jack (and Connor) a chance to compete at the national stage.
As our swimmers prepare for this weekend down at Gustavus we are hopeful for some great swims. Ethan Huber (sophomore) is eyeing up the 200 Free team record and NCAA qualifying times, and our relays (specifically the freestyle relays) are prepared to throw down some great swims as well! The guys are both pumped and thankful that they have had an opportunity (however small) to compete and give their best efforts. I look forward to a lot of great swims and hopefully some momentum as we go into next season.
Given all the adversity this season has thrown at our team, we are more than anything happy to be able to compete. Our seniors have shown incredible leadership over this season and we are incredibly proud of all three of them (Eli Greenblat, Joseph Schwamm, and Mick Olson). They have helped lead our team through these tough times and shown the younger guys that even when things don’t go the way that you thought they would, giving you best effort never has to change. We create our experiences through our attitude; stepping up when times are tough is what Johnnies do. I’m so proud of all our guys have accomplished this season and look forward to seeing what they can do this weekend to cap it all off.
If you would like to watch the end of season swim meet, and cheer on the Johnnies during their taper meet, please check out this link: