Susky swimmers are hitting the water with a new level of confidence, stacking personal‑best times and tightening relay chemistry as they push toward the postseason stretch.

The swim teams have had a solid start to the season with a boys record of 1-5 and a girls record of 4-2. During the meets, senior captain Lauren Kalmanowicz, junior Gracie Burton and sophomore Carliegh Ables have shined for the girls team, while junior Chase Wright and sophomores Kato Nguyen and Jared Voss have been the top scorers for the boys team so far.

Kalmanowicz believes that the team has great morale and chemistry at this point in their long season.

“I think our chemistry is really good,” Kalmanowicz said. “Our team gets along really well for the most part, and we have a lot of fun at practices and meets. We all just like being together as a team.”

Head coach and high school science teacher Brian Wingert also believes that the team has strong chemistry.

“I’m always looking to change things at practice,” Wingert said. “Whether we need to deviate from my plan to address situations, like if we have days off or if a meet gets rescheduled. Those are the easy things. But also looking at what the kids need. Coming out of a meet, I saw that our flip turns were really bad yesterday, so we’re going to spend a couple days focusing on flip turns, things like that.”

Freshman Maxwell Border has been learning from the upperclassmen and thinks the team is off to a good start.

“Personally, I think I’ve improved a lot since it’s my first swim season ever,” Border said. “I think I’ve really gotten down the strokes, and the team’s definitely going to improve overall. The first meets definitely have been rough because we’ve gone against really hard competition. The girls’ team has only lost once or twice, so they have had a very solid start.”

Kalmanowicz is prepared to move on to the post-season and thinks her relay team could go far.

“We have counties in about two weeks and districts in five,” Kalmanowicz said. “I’m looking forward to that. We have one more regular season meet, but I’m ready for the post-season and hopefully meddling with my relay there.”

Wingert believes that although the team has been doing pretty well so far, there are still changes to be made throughout the remainder of the season.

“I’m always looking to change things at practice,” Wingert said. “Whether we need to deviate from my plan to address situations like if we have days off or if a meet gets rescheduled. Those are the easy things. But also looking at what the kids need. Coming out of a meet, I saw that our flip turns were really bad yesterday, so we’re going to spend a couple days focusing on flip turns, things like that.”

Border has been taught by the upperclassmen that they can have fun at practice, but you have to practice seriously once you get in the pool.

“One thing I’ve learned is the attitude change,” Border said. “When you get in the pool, it is very serious. Before and after, you can goof around and stuff, but like when it’s 5:30 p.m., it’s time to get in the poo,l and you really need to lock in essentially.”

The Warriors still have a few meets left along with the postseason, left to show their swimming capabilities, and prove they have what it takes to be a top team in the league.