As the national anthem plays over the loudspeakers, the OHS swim team waits behind the blocks ready to race. The crowd cheers as the team starts the first event, the 200 medley relay.
Oakville’s state team this year included seniors Nathan Baker, Keith Nguyen, Ben Govero and Bobby Cook. But none of them have ever been at the state meet before, so they had a lot to work on before they raced.
“…I’ve been working at this for four years and now is the time I can show my full potential,” Baker said.
While seniors have been practicing for their whole high school career to make it to this point, they just recently started state practices. These practices were special not only because they’ve been working for so long, but because they got to focus on the little things now that they’re in a small group. This helped their performance drastically. The team also worked on their team aspect at these practices and less on their individual selves by practicing a lot on relays and takeoffs.
“My goal for the state is to do the best I can and encourage my team to do the best they can,” Baker said.
The team went into state knowing they were the underdogs but were still excited to race.
“It definitely went well, and I’m glad I got new best times,” Govero said.
The team finished first in their heat for the 4×100 freestyle relay, dropping over 10 seconds from their last best time, and placed 23rd overall. While in their 4×50 freestyle relay, they finished second in their heat, dropping three seconds from their last best time, and finishing 22nd overall. For these swimemrs, this was a great way to end their already amazing regular season where they won the conference.
“Winning the conference felt great because we all worked during the regular season to get there,” Baker said.
The boys team as a whole felt they had a tremendous season, going 10-3 in the regular season and being undefeated in conference and winning the conference championship. While they were able to share these achievements as a team, the end of their season was also a bittersweet moment.
“I will miss my teammates,” Baker said, “because they’re a big part of my life and like a second family.”
