Cooper City High School’s swimming and diving team participated in a Broward County Athletic Association (BCAA) Championship meet on Saturday, September 29. Every school in Broward County with a swim team was participating in the tournament. There were about 20 teams, including the Cowboys’ biggest rivals, Cypress Bay and Pines Charter.
The placing was all based on the swimmers’ times. The tournament was split into two parts– the preliminaries and finals. The swimmers could only move into the finals if they had an acceptable time. The women’s team placed third and the men’s team placed second overall.
“This meet has some of the best teams that we swim against,” captain Kathleen Golding said. “It’s definitely not an easy win, but we can do it.”
In the women’s relays, they placed first in the 200-yard medley relay, third in the 400-yard freestyle relay and third in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior Solana Capalbo got first in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Mallory Schleicher got first in the 500-yard freestyle. Senior Kathleen Golding received first in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore Molly Golding received first in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“We did really well. I am really proud of them,” senior Aaron Blanco said.“We have a lot of people who came back for finals. We have a decent chance of placing, like getting a trophy this year which I don’t think we’ve done before.”
In the men’s relays, they placed fifth in the 200-yard medley relay, third in the 400-yard freestyle relay and eighth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Freshman Javier Roman placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Tyler Flowers got second place in his diving competition.
“We are doing well and I am proud of everyone,” Kathleen Golding said. “We made it in the finals, we are swimming great and we won our relays.”
Even if the swimmers did not place where they wanted, one of the major goals was simply to improve their times.
“I dropped time in my 100-yard fly for the first time in an entire year. Last year during swim season I went 59 and I’ve never been able to get 59 again,” Blanco said. “Today I beat the time by a few milliseconds so I’m really happy.”
A few milliseconds may not sound like much, but to swimmers it is. One of the swimmers biggest goals is to break their times, and trophies are definitely a plus. The Cowboys did get a plaque for second place.
Photo by Alexa Jaspan
