Both the Baldwin girls and boys swim teams won in their first meet on the season on Tuesday, defeating Carrick.
Junior Katie Gruendler said it was a good way to start the season.
“The season’s pretty fresh and we have a lot of new people, so obviously going to the meet we had to focus on our skills,” Gruendler said. “But we were pretty confident, and swimming against Carrick is always fun, so it was a good first to start with.”
Gruendler said that there was an overall positive energy at the meet. She said there was a great audience, which also helped with the teams’ motivation.
“I think the team overall did a really good job with the culture of the meet. Everyone kept up traditions – we were able to get our signs hung up, everyone was cheering for each other – so it was just a really good environment,” Gruendler said.
Junior Brayden Kuch agreed, saying that the meet was a good start to the season.
“The boy’s team had good starts off the block,” he said.
Kuch said freshman Matteo Cuenca did especially well.
“He did really well on his backstroke,” he said. “As a freshman, he’s doing really well, especially at our first meet.”
The teams faced a slight challenge, as each person competed in the events they are not particularly strong in. Gruendler said they did this to switch it up and practice other skills, which they always do at the first couple meets.
Gruendler said the boys and girls teams plan to continue working on the basics as the season progresses.
“As a team we really just need to work on the very basics. We need to work on our dives and specifically our relay starts, as well as our turns,” she said.
Kuch said the boys team will continue to improve and that they’ll be working on flip turns for future meets. He said he believes the team will continue to do well this season.
“I really think we will keep getting better as the season goes on,” he said.
Gruendler also has high hopes.
“We have a lot of new people, so I think that everyone’s just going to get better and better as the season goes on,” she said. “I think a lot of our swimmers have a real shot of making WPIALs, and that’s obviously the ultimate goal. We’re really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Their next meet will be this Thursday at home against Brentwood.
