The McCallum swim team kicked its season off with its first meet on Oct. 4 at the Belton Invitational. The team came home with several best times and top finishes. Junior co-captain Viggo Gonzales placed first in the 100-meter freestyle and second in the 100-meter breaststroke. Sophomore Julep Ulack took home second place in the girls’ 100-meter backstroke, and freshman Eloise Darnell placed third in the 100 breaststroke. Junior Julia Van Houten, a new member of the team, placed fifth in the 50-meter freestyle and seventh place in the 100-meter breaststroke. Van Houten also swam in the medley relay, with teammates Ulack, Darnall and junior Kiyomi Rathnasingham. The medley relay combines butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. This same group of girls placed third in the 200 freestyle relay. The team placed sixth out of 25 schools at the meet. Head swim coach Jeff Rudy said he felt proud of his team, but knows there is room to improve.
“I was really pleased with the team’s performance,” Rudy said. “Almost every swimmer there had a personal best time, a couple of our boys had times that if they keep up improving them, they can qualify for state.”
This season, the swim team has welcomed many new members, one of them being Van Houten, who has already been making waves with her top finishes and times. Van Houten has been swimming for 13 years at Westwood Country Club. Van Houten was hesitant to join the swim team at first, as she is also a captain of the McCallum cheer team.
“My goal for the team is for everyone to get better,” Rudy said. “There’s a place for everyone in our swim program, but I believe in all of these kids and can’t wait to see their improvements.”
“I wanted to join the team because I’ve been swimming all my life, but I’ve never really had the right opportunity to because cheer practice used to be after school, so I wouldn’t have been able to make it to swim practices,” Van Houten said. “But now that cheer has been moved to the morning, I had the chance to try it out.”
Van Houten’s favorite part about swimming is the meets, where she can see her work pay off and cheer on her fellow teammates. She said the team has been super welcoming to her and other new members, and looks forward to continuing to bond with them.
“My experience on the team so far has been great, the practices and meets are super fun and everyone on the team is so friendly,” Van Houten said. “We have team dinners every few weeks, and those have been good to get to know everyone, especially because many new people came to the team this year”.
So far, Van Houten has been pleased with her times but is excited to improve them as the season progresses and grow in practice.
“I’m looking forward to improving my times and getting better,” Van Houten said. “I think that as a team we will improve with more practice time throughout the year.”
According to Rudy, Van Houten and the other new swimmers have made the team’s atmosphere more competitive, and this team is one of his most talented teams yet.
“Our new people this year, as a group, are probably one of the strongest younger groups I’ve had in recent memory, so they have made it a much more competitive environment,” Rudy said. “The new people are part of that enthusiasm that’s being brought to our team.”
When electing this year’s swim captains, Rudy made the candidates go through an application and interview process, where grades, attitude and effort were also considered. Rudy ultimately elected Gonzales, and seniors Iris LaRue and Ramona Considine.
“I am very pleased with our captains’ leadership; they were definitely the right people for the position,” Rudy said.
This is Gonzales’s third year swimming for McCallum, and her ninth year swimming outside of school. As a captain, Gonzales’s job is to ensure everyone has everything they need to race and to alert them of their next event so that they don’t miss it. He also encourages his teammates and helps lead by example during practices. Gonzales has learned to compete for his team and show up for his teammates every practice and meet.
“Swimming is a solitary sport where it’s just you in the race, and joining McCallum swim showed me that it’s not just you, it’s the whole team,” Gonzales said. “It can make swim a whole lot better, from cheering on your teammates to being in a relay race with your friends.”
Looking forward, Gonzales has many goals and improvements he wants himself and the team to meet.
“The team needs to work on our dives and flip turns the most to get moving faster,” Gonzales said. “My goal for the whole team is to make it to regionals, and for me to maybe make it to state.”
With the water polo season recently ending, Rudy had to deal with many conflicts with that and other extracurriculars, but Rudy is happy to accommodate his swimmers. When asked what the team can improve, Rudy said showing up on time to practice. However, he is excited to see the team improve their skills, but is also proud of all the work that has already been shown.
