Trojans return for a more balanced season

As the Spartan fencers look forward to the rest of the season, including the Minnesota High School State Meet at the end of February, expectations loom high for this talented group.

Eliza Farley The Rubicon

The Trojans co-op swim and dive team have been working on building community and honing their competition. With a myriad of changes to the team from last year, the Trojans are tasked with maintaining a team culture that can support them all the way to the top of their competitive game. The last several years have brought turnaround in coaching and management, but this year seems like a return to form.

Junior Rishi Bhargava appreciates the increased management over last year.

“There are five managers of the team this year… a significant upgrade from last year,” he said. “It helps out [our] coach, because he can focus on giving advice to swimmers during meets and not timing [the races].”

Another change is the team dynamic. Captain Gabriel Bangoura noticed that the team this year is younger and more balanced between schools than before. “We had a lot of seniors graduate last year,” he said. The team has “been growing is on the younger side,” he said.

One of the younger members, freshman William Hanna, feels like it’s been easy to fall in with the team’s rhythm despite being new. “It didn’t take a lot for me to feel part of the team,” they said.

“[Central is] one of our pretty big rivals,” Bangoura said. The team also has some clear goals for the end of the season. “Last year, we were point-five [seconds] away from getting a relay to state,” Bhargava said.

The swimmers on that relay team—Bhargava, Bangoura, junior Connor Overgaard, and a senior swimmer from Highland Park—are all on the swim team again this year, so there’s hope that they can surpass their previous performance and secure a spot to the state tournament in March.

STEADY START. Christian Worral hovers above the water before a race. “Last year, we were point-five [seconds] away from getting a relay to state,” Bhargava said.

PHOTO: SPA SmugMug ILLUSTRATION: Orion Kim