On Nov. 22, Huntley High School had its first tryouts for its all new boys swim team. Boys from grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 gathered at Centegra Health and Fitness Center in Huntley, and did their best to impress Coach Rachel Schwingen. Nineteen boys came to tryouts, and waited for their results. The Coach soon announced that they were all selected for the swim team.

     At this point, there are 17 boys on the team. After tryouts, the coach divided the boys into two teams: JV and varsity. Eight boys were put onto the JV team, and 9 boys on the varsity team.

     “They are a really good group of guys,” said Schwingen.

     Schwingen was overjoyed to have the boys swim team finally started. She has been swimming for 14 years and has been swimming on and off for the past 10 years. She was very interested in coaching the team.

     Many of the boys on the team including captains sophomore Matthew Haage and junior Jakub Petyniak are excited to finally have a swim team for their own school.

     “It’s awesome that we get to compete and represent our school,” said Petyniak.

     Petyniak is thrilled to finally have a boys swim team. After representing HHS for two years, and competing on his own, he was eager to be apart of the team.

     Schwingen and the boys head down to Centegra to practice four times a week. Each practice consists of an hour and a half’s time of vigorous practice and training. They start off with their regular warm-ups and then swim many laps to improve technique.

     Many on the team are very experienced swimmers and help the other swimmers and the JV out.

     “The older and more experienced boys help the JV team a lot,” said Schwingen.

     The season has just started and the boys are just like a big family.

     “We’re like a big bunch of brothers,” said freshman Kevin Bender.

     Not only do they swim together, and help each other become better swimmers, they also celebrate together too.

Freshman Ran Xu, a swimmer on JV, loves the experience of being on the swim team.

“It’s a lot of fun and we are one big family,” said Xu.

The team’s hard work and team work really pays off in the end. They have already been involved in many meets, and have won a few too. They won first place at a duel meet a few weeks back, and won first in their trial meet, recently.

“It’s going fantastic,” said Schwingen.

Post Author: Mike Krebs. Mike Krebs is a staff writer for The Voice. He is currently a junior a Huntley High School. Aside from writing for the Voice he works at the Crystal Lake Country Club as both a caddie and on the Bag Room Staff. He has been an Explorer at the Algonquin Police Department for two years and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant. He also volunteers with the Tri-Area Court for Teens for Lake in the Hills, Huntley, and Algonquin. He enjoys spending time with family and friends. When possible he enjoys playing paintball with friends at local fields.