The Wildcats Swim Team put up a valiant fight in the pouring rain against the Campolindo High school Cougars, but lost in the Mar. 4 meet.

The meet started a little bumpy as the Wildcats were not able to secure first place in the 200-yard Medley Relays of the first four events. However they came in of the four events as a close second. Varsity sophomore Apoorva Sharma was the first to place first in an event with a time of 1 minute 48.70 seconds during the 200-yard freestyle. Soon after, Giselle Helding, JV freshman, and Pradhan Hariharan, JV sophomore, also placed first in the 100-yard IM. During the 500-yard freestyle, senior varsity member Brandon Shi also came up in first with an impressive time of 5 minutes 0.16 seconds only just getting ahead of a close rival with a time of 5 minutes 1.18 seconds.

Despite the gloomy ambiance and not performing as well as they had hoped, the team kept their hopes and spirits up while chanting a famous line, “Rain or shine! We don’t whine!”

“Even though it was raining the whole swim meet and everyone was huddled under one small pop up and plastic bags, everyone tried their best to start off the swim season strong and cheer on their fellow teammates,” recalls Senior Aileen Reyes.

Although the meet didn’t go as swimmingly as some may have hoped, the team had an incredible opportunity to bond when the Varsity team’s bus broke down in the middle of the road on their way home. Huddled together for about an hour under plastic bags and raincoats, the team waited together for the new bus to arrive.

“It was quite an adventure. Although we were soaked and cold after a long meet, and everyone was really excited to go home, the JV team was also stranded when the Varsity bus broke down. The JV bus wouldn’t leave because we are a team,” Junior Julie Sauer said.

This memorable experience was an exciting way to kick off the 2016 swim season as the team continues to strive to work harder.

When asked about the overall meet performance and predictions for the season as a whole, Senior Sean Hoang replies, “It was hard because I think the rain really got to everyone, especially since it was so early on in the season. But we definitely haven’t reached our week of incredible improvement yet, so it’s hard to exactly say how this season will turn out.”