The UHS Boys’ Varsity Swim and Dive team suffered a defeat against Beckman High. Despite the final score being 74-96 Beckman, all other levels collectively won in their races, resulting in UHS winning overall 313-176. 

Since the Beckman meet was one of the first meets of the season, the team was excited and hoped to kick off the season with a victory. However, as many of the top varsity swimmers were absent due to club sectionals of their respective clubs, the team did not expect to win at the varsity level. 

“We didn’t expect to do as well as we did because many of our club swimmers were doing sectionals that day so we didn’t have them,” junior Mark Zakharyan said. “So overall we’re really happy that we did as well as we did, especially against a good team like Beckman.” 

Although the absence of many top varsity swimmers played a significant role in the loss, the team performed better than originally expected as both JV teams dominated their competitors. 

“We did even better than expected, winning in JV and Open by more than 75 points while only losing to varsity by about 20,” junior James Zhen said.  “As well as that, our season is starting strong with many personal record times being set here in this meet.”

Furthermore, since the Beckman team consists of many fast swimmers, the UHS team was particularly proud of its performances, with UHS swimmers winning races that were extremely close in time. 

“I think we did well out touching them on the wall,” junior Max Peng said. “A lot of the races came down to a few hundredths of a second, and we came out on top of a lot of those races.”

Despite the loss, the players enjoyed the meet. Many members of the team were new and were able to bond with the team through events such as the relay. 

“My favorite part of the meet were the relays since everybody was cheering for one another and the excitement amongst the swimmers were super high,” sophomore Kazuma Okada said. “Every swimmer cheered for one another which really encouraged each other to go the fastest we could in the water. Relays really bond the team together.” 

Looking forward to the rest of the season, the team was optimistic and promised a great season with the ultimate goal of winning CIF. 

“[We] look forward to the league finals because this swim team at full potential is a lot better than last year’s team,” Peng said. 

“Our ultimate goal is to win league and become league champions, and I personally think that this is a definitely obtainable goal with the amount of effort we are putting in and all of the fast swims that we have been seeing,” Okada said. “The school can look forward to us winning league.”