This year, a new athletic team has come to fruition: the girls swim team. For a while, students have wanted a Barstow swim team because a fair amount of students have a swim extracurricular. So, Alexandra Huynh (‘24) took the initiative and created the girls swim team.

“Mrs. Ganter brought up starting a team. She asked, ‘if you could create a team what would it be?’ to which I answered with creating a swim team, and people surprisingly showed interest. Mr. Fox said I needed eight people to start a team, so this year I started asking around,” Huynh said. 

A lot of people showed interest in the swim team. The season has started off very strong, most of the team can make it to the practices and are improving each practice. They started practicing in early to mid-November.

“I thought it was cool that I could have a chance to join a team that had not existed at Barstow before,” says Ava Levin (‘24). “It was new and I thought that was fun. I liked the people who made it and I wanted to make sure it succeeded.”

A few girls on the team have some previous experience, but that is not a requirement to join the team. Some swim competitively, some have summer experience, and others have no previous experience.

“I joined the swim team because I swam competitively when I was in middle school and during the summer so I decided I wanted to get back into it. When Barstow made their own team it was the perfect opportunity,” Kiley Bourke (‘24) said.

Similar to Bourke, Avani Lakkireddy (‘24) also has some past experience.

“I have always liked swimming. I was on a summer swim team in middle school and seeing it at Barstow made me excited,” says Lakkireddy. “I think, especially Alex and Kiley, I want to see them win and for the rest of the team I want to see them compete and bond.”

On the other hand, Rachel Jacobs (‘26) does not have any competitive experience.

“To be honest, I needed a sports credit and I do not like most sports because people can be very passionate and mean about their sport. I have never swam competitively before, but I hope to learn how to do the strokes correctly,” explains Jacobs.  “I hope I become a good swimmer and have fun. I plan on doing swim next year as well.”

There are always things to improve in a team, and swim is no exception. Because a good portion of the team is new, they focus on the basics.

“Only a few of us are ready to do laps; we are trying to get down strokes in the meantime. it would be nice if everyone had their 50 freestyle down to 45 seconds. It is pretty basic, but it needs to happen,” Huynh says.

As the season progresses, there will be more skills to practice, but as of right now, the team will continue to practice the fundamentals. 

So far, this team is going strong and will continue to do so. The team is sure to stay at Barstow for years to come.