Grizzlies back in the pool

Kristi Lambert

With the sound of a whistle blow, the water surface erupted as Logan High School swimmers began another workout set in practice. Methodically, arms and legs and appeared and disappeared under the cool lap pool water. Above the surface of the water it is loud and chaotic; beneath the surface there is 

nothing but the muffled sounds of splashes and silence.

This is something many of these swimmers have come to love.

“I’m definitely less anxious after I swim,” said Sophia Chrysoston, a junior who swims the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley. “School is stressful because I’m taking an AP class. I get in the pool and I focus on swimming and forget about school. Then when I get home, I still have that endorphin buzz and I can focus better on my homework.”

“I find it relaxing to swim and be able to think about my day and the things that are going on in my life,” senior Brittny Gunnell said.

Junior Cole Museus said that practices are challenging and as a result he is improving and dropping time in his races; the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle.

“It’s my biggest stress reliever,” Museus said. “It’s physically hard, but mentally relaxing.”

With three meets down and 12 to go until the 4A state swimming championships, the team is doing well. Under the direction of three coaches, the Grizzlies practice Monday through Friday from 3-5 p.m. in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation lap pool at Utah State University. There are 74 swimmers on the team; 40 girls and 34 boys. Depending on the swimmer’s skill and experience, they swim with group A, B or C. The Grizzly swim team is mostly comprised of sophomores and freshman. In the spring, 10 seniors will graduate leaving a strong team for next year.

Thursday the LHS Grizzlies competed in a meet against the Orem Golden Tigers.

“We did well. The girls won. Boys lost a close one. All swam well,” said Jerry Hodgkinson, LHS’s head swim coach. This is Hodgkinson’s fourth year coaching LHS’s swim team. He has 10 years previous coaching experience at Mountain Crest and Ogden High School.

LHS’s girls’ swim team has an overall record of 14 wins, no losses; the boys’ team has won nine and lost five. Hodgkinson said he is proud of his swimmers and expects the girls to continue their winning streak come Saturday at the Park City Invitational, which will be held at 9 a.m.  

“I’m expecting better swims because there will be better competition,” Hodgkinson said. “We’ll have a light practice today, send them home to rest and hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some better performances.”

Last year LHS’s swim team took third place at state. There was a great deal of pressure on the team to do well. Hodgkinson said that the team has taken a backseat approach this year to ease the pressure and focus on having good experience instead of winning.

“Last year there was too much pressure,” Hodgkinson said. “This year we want to leave it in the pool. We lose, we lose; we win, we win. Of course that’s what we want, but mostly we want to focus on having a positive experience.”

(T. Alvey)