Xavier swimmers form bond with Washington

CEDAR RAPIDS - Five Xavier swimmers came together with 32 Washington swimmers to form one team.

Xavier does not have a swim team, so swimmers at Xavier use a coop program to swim for the high school in their district. Five out of the eight swimmers at Xavier swim for Washington and the other three are members of the Kennedy team.

'Swimming for another school is so amazing. Not only do I enjoy swimming but it is the meeting of more people that I like the most because they are so inviting and care so much,” said Xavier senior Mitchell Anderson, who swims for Washington.

Someone could walk in on practice or go to a meet and not even notice the boys go to different school. The swimmers agreed that, after spending so much time together, they all have become good friends. After most of the weekend meets, the swimmers have some sort of team bonding event, basically hanging out and eating.

Some may think swimming for another school would be difficult because swimming is a competitive sport and individually swimmers strive to be the best.

'The hardest part about swimming at Wash is that you have to be the best, you have to train to be the best mornings, nights, two a days, long sets we gotta be the best,” said Xavier sophomore George Durin, a returning state qualifier for Washington.

Swimming in high school is not a small commitment. The boys have two practices every day, one at 5:30 a.m. and the other after school. On average, they will spend 20 hours a week either working out or competing.

'George Durin for sure pushes me to be the best I can be and also my other teammates do as well,” Anderson said. 'But George and I come from Xavier and being on varsity together we want to push ourselves in order to get better at the sport we love.”