Boys Swimming Starts Season With Dominant Wins and Big Goals

The boys swim and dive team is off to a great start in what could be one of the best seasons in recent memory. Talented new additions to the roster, positive attitudes, and strong work ethic propelled the team to victory in its first three dual meets, and times continue to improve for swimmers across the board.

“I think the team is poised to be the best it’s ever been,” said Katie Capelli, head coach of Greenhills swim and dive team. “Every single person on the team is working hard and doing really well. We had a lot of new talent join the team this year, which has helped, but everyone else who returned from last season has really stepped up as well.”

Greenhills competes as part of a cooperative team with swimmers from Father Gabriel Richard and Whitmore Lake. In its first dual meet of the season on December 19, Greenhills bested Ypsilanti Lincoln 123-57. The team followed it up on January 8 with a decisive 139-15 win against Dearborn Divine Child. Then on Tuesday, January 14, the team continued its dominant win streak when it beat Pinckney High School 141–51.

Capelli is excited to see the new and returning athletes coming together and elevating each other’s performance. The year-over-year improvement is obvious with returning swimmers, because there are season results that they can compare, but even the new athletes are showing steadily improving times.

“They’ve done a great job of coming together and supporting each other, at practice and at meets, which I think has really helped,” said Capelli. “The people who were on the team last year are just as fast now as they were at the end of the season last year, which is not normal for swimming. We’re trying really hard to get them to be the best that they can be, and it’s looking like they’re going to be incredibly fast by the end of the season.”

A central part of the team’s strategy is to push themselves both physically and mentally. Capelli says one of the first things she did was make practices harder. And if you’re at Greenhills before school, you’ll regularly find the Gryphons working just as hard out of the pool on strength and conditioning training.

Mentally, team members have focused on developing goals and race plans, and working strategically at practices to achieve them. This is something olympic-level swimmers often do as an important part of their race preparation, and it adds purpose to what can feel like endless laps in a pool.

“We talk a lot about how we want to race at our meets—and what we want to get out of each one—so that we can get better at every single meet,” says Capelli. “At this point in the season the focus is just learning from your races and taking that to practice so you can be better by the next one. By Catholic Leagues or States they should know exactly what they need to do and how to do it, and they’ll have done all the work to execute their goals.”

While athletes are developing their own personal goals and race plans, the team is also setting the bar high for what they expect to achieve together this season. They know that everyone will have to work together to be better than last year, when several swimmers earned the opportunity to compete at States.

“Last year we were fifth at Catholic Leagues, and I think we can improve on that. At States we competed but did not make the finals, and it would be nice to see us get a lot of our swimmers to the finals. I also want to see some of the swimmers who may not become state qualifiers swim really well, because they help the team just as much as the state qualifiers—they contribute big points. If we can get them to be really good, then this team will be really really great.”

The season is still young, and there are still nine more meets this season, including Catholic Leagues and States. One of the toughest challenges is just around the corner, when Greenhills hosts defending league champion Cranbrook School on Wednesday, January 22. It is likely to be a competitive meet and the Gryphons will have to be at their best to win, but Capelli likes the team’s odds.

“We can compete with anyone,” said Capelli.