On September 22, 2022, the Judson High School swim team hosted a Red and Grey meet. It is a meet where they compete against themselves to see where they stand with their times to prepare for future meets.

“This gives me an idea of what they want to swim during the season and what they should be swimming. Those things are not always the same,” Swim Coach Ryan Murphy said. 

The first meet of the season usually isn’t the best. Students have had the summer break, and aren’t constantly going to practices as they would when in school. 

“It is typical for the first meet of the season to have times slower than what the swimmer had at the end of the previous season. That said, some of these times are already faster than what they swam last year. Some are slower as is expected. Any swimmer within 10% of their best time at this meet is doing well. Any swimmer faster than their previous best times is going to have a really good year,” Murphy said. 

Murphy has confidence in the team and is excited for the students and how they will do this season. 

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what all these kids can do. I think with the duel meets that we have lined up, our home season will be very good. I think we are in really good shape for districts.”

Though there has been a decrease in swimmers since last year, senior Swim Captain Anneliese Ackerman believes that the team should take advantage of that. 

“There’s more time for people to learn from our coach and captains and we can spend more time assisting someone who needs the help rather than brushing them off because we have more to do,” Ackerman said. 

There are hopes that the team will make it far this year, in upcoming meets. 

“Right now, the boys’ team looks to be competitive with the top teams in the district, with a real shot at making the team podium and possibly winning the district.  The girls’ team has a higher hill to climb as we graduated a massive senior class last year of fast girls and we have 1 senior girl this year to look to for leadership,” Murphy said. 

Murphy has set the expectations high for the swimmers this year to better help them in the long run. 

“I expect to see a greater commitment to personal improvement and personal motivation. A team that is personally motivated to improve and acts on it is more likely to do well in the long run, versus a team where the coach has to constantly motivate the team members,” Murphy said. 

The swimmers can feel comfortable improving themselves because of the environment they have created. 

“Due to the team’s popular team bonding activities the team grows closer together every week and overall makes a great environment for everyone to grow and improve upon themselves,” Junior Julio Hernandez said. 

Hopes are high for the potential of the team this year. The next meet will be on Saturday, October 1, 2022, at the Judson Pool. They will be going against Wagner and Veterans Memorial.