SHS Swim teams create positive team atmosphere

The Warrior swim teams are led by Cody Johnston for the girls team and Kirsten Dow for the boys team. Assisting them is Denise Gilson, Assistant Principal at Socorro Middle School. 

Coach Dow brings 30 years of coaching experience to the team and is in her sixth year as head coach; Coach Cody is in his second year as head coach and has seven years of coaching experience; Coach Gilson has three years of head coaching and six years of total coaching experience. 

The team adds to the vast experience of these coaches with a more recent SHS grad who assists.

“Rio Sessions is an amazing volunteer who has been helping us this season,” Johnston said.

With their many years of coaching and education experience, the swim coaches have strong growth mindsets. They also clearly enjoy their time spent working with the student-athletes.

“We enjoy watching our swimmers grow, set goals, overcome challenges and witnessing their hard work pay off. We love this opportunity to build lifelong athletes and help facilitate their love for the sport,” the coaches said.

The student-athletes bring a lot of experience too. Many have swim team years under their belts already. Most of them are also multi-sport student-athletes, who have already built up teamwork skills with the other swim team members in other sports. The overall strength of the team is the inclusivity, according to the coaches.

“Swimmers of all skills are welcome on our teams and we've built an environment that supports that. Although swimming is often viewed as an individual sport, we're proud to have built a positive culture, full of sportsmanship and comradery,” the coaches said.

The teams have already had six meets so far this winter season. They have had a second place overall finish and several third places in those meets. Riley Sewell, Ben Watkins, and the boys relay teams have podiumed with multiple first, second and third place finishes. The girls team was small at the first meet but has grown since; they have many top ten finishes, including two fourth places by Abby Cadol.

“One of our big goals at the beginning of the season was to outscore a 5A team at a meet, which we have already achieved several times! At the beginning of the season all of our athletes set individual goals. We are constantly working to support our swimmers as they progress towards these goals,” the coaches said.

The experienced coaches and the positive team atmosphere that they have created has brought about many successes already and will continue to do so throughout the season.

Rosters:

SHS girls swimming:

Kathleen Johnson, sophomore; Anea Scates, sophomore; Abby Cadol, sophomore; Maeve Sturgis, freshman; Avery Timmons, sophomore; Alyetecia Chavez, junior; Breanne Lucero, junior; Estella Candelaria, junior.

SHS boys swimming:

Connor Johnston, junior; Jacob Carrillo, freshman; Dymek Arendt, freshman; Sebastian Aafloy, freshman; Ben Watkins, junior; Timur Aitbayev, sophomore; Rylan Hicks, junior; Lincoln Wilkinson, freshman; Riley Sewell, sophomore; James Tartis, eighth grade.

Schedule:

1/10 at Albuquerque Academy, times TBA.

1/17 at Belen, times TBA.

1/31 APS Invite at West Mesa, times TBA.

2/7 District Meet at Albuquerque Academy Natatorium, times TBA.

2/21-22 State Meet at Albuquerque Academy Natatorium, times TBA.