The AHN swim team kicked off their season with a home meet against Newsome High School Thursday, September 6, and the annual City Relays meet the following Saturday, September 8.

Facing a team with three 2012 Olympic Trial swimmers, AHN lost by a small margin with a final score of 98-87.  Everyone finished with fast times and did not let the intimating team win without a fight. The members of the final 400 Yard Free Relay, junior Clare Fleming, freshman Olivia Kirkpatrick, junior Alex Nuyianes, and senior Tori Litschgi, especially battled the Newsome team in a nail-biting close race by winning the relay by merely 0.27 of a second.  Junior Clare Fleming elaborated on what went through her mind when her relay outtouched Newsome.

“Winning the relay against such a strong team gave our team a great sense of confidence for the upcoming season.”

Besides a dual meet full of personal bests and fast times, Jesuit and Academy also competed at the local City Relays meet at Bobby Hicks pool.  Teams from all over the Tampa area battled in this meet of solely relays.  Along with the all boy and all girl relays, the unique aspect of this meet includes four mixed relays, in which two girls swim with two boys.  Though close the entire meet, AHN finished in third place, losing by merely one point to Plant and nine points to Newsome.
Following City Relays, the entire AHN swim team attended the traditional swim team sleepover, which took place at senior Tori Litschgi’s house.  At the sleepover, the team bonded by playing games, swimming, eating ice cream sundaes, and making decorated ribbons to tie on their swim bags.  Senior Alex Diaz is excited about the upcoming season.

“City Relays and the annual sleepover are always a fun way to become closer as a team because they allow us to get closer on the pool deck and off.”

Overall, the season has kicked off to a great start with competitive times and close bonding between the team.