Men’s swim starts off their season strong and ready to compete with not one, but two Bradbury swimmers diving into the water.
With head coach Tabor Waterstreet entering his second full year, and some exciting freshman and transfer recruits joining the squad, there is definitely a lot of excitement within the swim program entering the season.
“I’m pretty stoked!” said sophomore Elias Bradbury. “We actually have a solid amount of people who joined this year, some really fast swimmers and great potential. I’m really excited for the season to keep going. We had a great first meet last weekend and we want to build off that.”
For the first time in five year, the men’s team won their first meet, and freshman Taylor Juarez started off his Boxer career with a win in the 200 yard freestyle. Bradbury also had a multiple of PR’s as well. “I was able to put a 24.6 for my relay for the (freestyle) 50, and a 25.5 for my 50 butterfly which I was really happy with,” Bradbury said.
For the past several years, the swim team was fairly small, with freshmen making up most of the roster. This year however, the team is much bigger, and Bradbury is very excited about that. “Our team loves to have a good time and to put in hard work,” said Bradbury. “Now that there’s more people to do that.”
Bradbury expanded on the difference from last season’s team structure to what it looks like now. “Last year, we had a great time but I definitely felt that with a lack of people we couldn’t do as many things as we wanted to do, and now with more people practice runs a little bit more smoothly. We actually get a little bit more of the workouts done differently, and everyone’s posting each other a little bit more, which is great.”
While the team were in a rebuilding phase last year, Bradbury believes that this year the team is ready to make the next big step. “I’m really excited to see what our conference competition is going to look like, and even these next incoming swim meets we have.”
Elias Bradbury’s older brother, Mateo Bradbury, also joined the swim team this year, to bring back one of the many things the two brothers did together, and they are both thrilled about competing together. “I was so happy about that!” Elias Bradbury shared when asked about swimming alongside his brother. “I was really lucky to get him to join me. We’ve been swimming most of our lives, in and out of competition, or just open water. He’s happy to be here and is really leaning into our team mentality and the work that we put in.”
Last year, junior Mateo Bradbury studied abroad in Japan instead for his sophomore year. This year however, it was a no-brainer for him to join, but it wasn’t just because of his little brother.
“It seemed very appealing,” said M. Bradbury. “There’s a lot more guys on the team. When I went to join my freshman year I contacted the coach, but she left her job and there was a coaching transition. It was a hectic time and ended up not working out.”
Mateo Bradbury expanded on his feelings about swimming under head coach Tabor Waterstreet. “I feel more confident and he makes swimming fun. The idea is ‘I want to show up for you, I want to show up for swimming. If you have goals in swimming, personally achieve them. My goal for you is to get better.’ I like that. I think there’s something to say to a coach that wants to put respect and time into your effort.”
He concludes, “It’s a good environment to just want to be a swimmer.”
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