On Nov. 16, 2024, the Rocket Swim Team participated in a Swim Meet against Canyon High School. Despite their best efforts, the Judson swimmers fought hard but ultimately fell to Canyon (115-77 Men, 123-79 Women, 238-156, Men and Women combined). The following are the results from the meet:
When interviewed about the meet, here’s what some of the swimmers had to say:
Junior Sofia Colacino placed fourth place in the Women Open. She swam in the 200 yd Medley Relay, 200 yd Freestyle, 500 yd Freestyle, and 200 yd Free Relay.
Thoughts on the Outcome: “I feel like the team and I performed well at the meet. Quite a bit [of] our athletes achieved personal bests, which is always a good thing. I was relatively pleased with my performance at the meet, I felt quite calm and focused throughout.”
How She Prepares: “I feel I was adequately prepared for the meet. I don’t do much to prepare for a meet, I just make sure I stay hydrated.”
Favorite Events: “I enjoy swimming longer distances because it is quite calming. I don’t need to be thinking ‘okay go fast fast fast,’ compared to how I think when I sprint. I get to just be alone with my thoughts.”
Experience and Reason for Joining: “I have been swimming for quite a while. I started when I was around five/six years old and then I quit when I was around 10, and started swimming competitively again in 2022. Nothing really inspired me to start swimming, but my coach thought I was good, so they thought it was in my best interest to start doing it competitively.”
Goal for the Next Meet: “I am looking forward to the next meet. I am definitely going to try to beat my 500 freestyle time, which I think is definitely doable.”
Freshman Logan Skinner placed fifth place in the Men Open. He swims the 100 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, and both sprint relays.
Thoughts on the Outcome: “I think that the meet went pretty well. There are definitely things that we need to work on, but it’s going well.”
How He Prepares: “I feel like I am pretty prepared for every meet I go to. I make sure that I eat well and sleep a lot before a meet.
Favorite Events: “I like whenever the meets are short and have a lot of sprinting events.”
Experience and Reason for Joining: “I have been swimming for about 6-7 years. I thought that the Coach was a good coach and that we could get far in the relay events.”
Goal for the Next Meet: “I am pretty excited for the next meet and I am ready to see if I can break some records.”
Senior Lily De La Rosa placed 13th in the Women Open. She swam 50 back in the 200 Medley Relay and 50 back, 50 free, and anchor in the 200 Free Relay.
Thoughts on the Outcome: “I think we all did our best. It was definitely a tough meet, and if we had more teammates I think we could have gathered enough points to win. Overall, I know that everyone tried their best for the team, it was not easy.”
How She Prepares: “I was prepared, yes. Showing up to practice everyday especially helps me prepare for meets. Getting a good night’s sleep and fueling up is always helpful as well.”
Favorite Events: “My favorite events are the backstroke events because that’s what I’ve always preferred. It is my favorite stroke, some hate it, some love it. It is tough though, it takes a lot of practice to have a good backstroke technique.”
Experience and Reason for Joining: “I started swimming when I was 5 until I was 9, then I had to stop swimming. I tried out club my freshman year, but quickly realized morning practice was just not for me. Now, in my senior year, I decided to try out swimming again and I made the team. I was inspired to try it again because I felt like I needed something to pour my time and energy into. I think joining the team has definitely helped me improve my swimming, my times have dropped significantly and I’m focusing on improving my techniques everyday.”
Goal for the Next Meet: “I am very excited for our next meet. I hope to keep dropping time in my events, and I hope the same for all my teammates.”
Freshman Della Howes placed 21st in the Women Open. She swam the 200 yd Medley Relay, 100 yd Breaststroke, and the 200 yd Free Relay.
Thoughts on the Outcome: “I feel we did good. The meet was ok, everyone really tried.”
How She Prepares: “I felt [like I prepared] some what more mentally [than physically]. I just focused more on the good than the bad.”
Favorite Events: “I prefer the free relays because of the dive, and it’s more fun.”
Experience and Reason for Joining: “I have been swimming for 1 year. I just wanted to learn. Judson has definitely helped me improve my swimming.”
Goal for Next Meet: “I feel somewhat excited for the next meet. My goal is to drop more time.”
Senior Armon Couch placed 21st in Men Open, and is one of the newer swim team members. He swam the 200 yd Medley Relay as the Freestyle leg, the Open 50 yd Freestyle, the 200 yd Freestyle Relay, and the 400 yd Freestyle Relay.
Thoughts on the Outcome: “I feel I did good this meet, my teammates as well. You can tell they really put effort in. Overall, the meet was a good experience. It was a home meet so those are always the best ones to have and where all the support comes in that really helps push us faster.”
How He Prepares: “I was as prepared as I could be with this only being my second meet, there’s always going to be some level of nerves that comes with competition but I enjoy performing under pressure or in front of an audience. To prepare, I always like to visualize my races beforehand. It helps keep you centered on what you need to execute and distraction free.”
Favorite Events: “I prefer the freestyle competitions, specifically the sprints. I’m not much of an endurance type athlete so the shorter races are where I feel most comfortable and enjoy.”
Experience and Reason for Joining: “I have been swimming with the team for a little over a month now. I had done competitive swim during the summers of early middle school, but stopped after 6th grade. I chose to join the team because I missed swimming and I just really love any type of racing. Joining the team has definitely helped me become a better swimmer. I have continued to drop times in my races consistently since starting, and my overall confidence in the pool has improved.”
Goal for the Next Meet: “I’m always ready to go out and compete again. For the next meet, I’m just trying to continue to drop my times and be a great contribution to the team. I want [to] do my part the best I can and be someone that can be relied upon.”
After the meet, Swim Coach Ryan Murphy reflected on how the team did.
“They did a really good job today. There was at least one drop [in time] for every kid today. And they were not small, itty-bitty drops, a lot of them were big drops. Not a bad race at all, not one. So, it was a good day,” commented Murphy.
To prepare for the next swim meet, the team will continue to practice and test their endurance.
“We’re going to practice over Thanksgiving Break, [and] we’re going to do a pace test this next week to see if their endurance has gotten worse (and if it has, I’m going to have to make some adjustments). They did a great job sprinting, but the problem is, once you get towards the end of the meet (or the end of an event), you start getting tired, and you’ve got to make sure you don’t get tired in the last half of the meet. So we’ll see what the pace test shows,” Murphy revealed.
The swim team is always open to new members, and are willing to teach beginners.
“I would tell aspiring swimmers to get in the water, [and] don’t be afraid to go tryout. You’d be surprised at how much you can do. Armon Couch is a senior who did a little bit of summer league when he was a little kid, and is already going to be making the A Relay for the boys, and it’s not just a gimme. He’s getting after it. But yeah, just give it a shot. You’d be surprised. Again, like Armon, I helped clean his stroke up. I can help a lot of kids makes their strokes a lot cleaner. The main thing you’ve got to do is just get in and get after it and not be afraid to put in some hard work,” Murphy said.
The next meet is on Jan. 11 at NISD Aquatic Center, when Judson will compete against various teams.
