The boys swimming and diving team stands at a crossroads in their season: the hardest training is over, but the biggest challenges competitively are yet to come. Looking forward to league championships and Central Coast Section (CCS), the team has begun the process of tapering, or resting for greater performance in these pivotal meets, and although practice for athletes will continue to get easier, the real difficulty lies in the anticipation and need to perform in the end of the season.

The team’s one remaining dual meet against Los Gatos on Thursday, April 30, has been anticipated to be a close match and an intense way to end the normal season. After it, the team will participate in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championships on the following Thursday, May 7. The team hopes to take first place in the league championships to continue its record of success in the meet in the last few years. Following up, the team’s qualified swimmers will participate in the CCS championships, going up against longtime rivals and consecutive champions Bellarmine High School, hoping to pull off a win and end Bellarmine’s decades-long winning streak.

Although optimistic, the athletes do suffer from exhaustion after the long and arduous training regimen demanded of them since the season began in January.  Morning and afternoon practices take a physical as well as emotional toll on the athletes, but many team members feel a certain level of motivation coming back as the postseason approaches.

“The team is starting to get energy back from taper[ing] and has a bit of end of season fatigue but for the most part is still strong,” senior varsity swimmer Lucas Novak said.

Novak has utmost faith in his team’s perseverance, and the rest of the squad has similar motivation going into these crucial final weeks.