The Normal West boys swim season is halfway over. The entire team has been training hard to go into intercity confident and achieve their goal of advancing to the Sectionals and State Championship meets.

This year, the team has stepped up to fill the shoes of the top swimmers who graduated last May, Austin Hartke and Andrew Loy, who currently hold multiple school records.

The boys’ swim coach, Becky McGrew says this is a “building year” for the boys to get into a routine and figure out what kind of swimmer they are and get comfortable with what their main events are.” McGrew said, “We’ve had a lot of people step up, becoming leaders and becoming involved in the team.

“One high of the season was the meet over winter break, everyone was getting their best times, a sign of everyone doing what they’re supposed to be,” says Ryan Gibson (11).

Gibson went on to say, “I don’t think we have had any lows this season, I think we have all put in work and worked hard.”

Connor Eicher (10), Reid Peterson (10), Adam Jett (11), and Zach Mitchell (12) are a few of this year’s top swimmers according to Coach McGrew. Two freshmen, Ben Rutledge and Tyler Aarons, have brought a lot of skill and potential to the program

When asked what his goals for intercity were, Ryan Gibson says, “Keep working hard,” adding, “I would like to break 6 minutes in the 500-yard event.” For the team, he says, “For everyone to get best times and put up a good fight against U-High.”

As for Coach McGrew, she is excited to see a few time drops from the boys and for them to see their hard work from practice pay off.

McGrew has been a coach for 11 years and West has taken at least one swimmer to state ever since, and she hopes for that to continue. She added, “It would be a dream to have somebody drop enough time to be able to still go.”

Normal West will host the boys intercity Tuesday, January  24th at 5 pm in the natatorium.