On Dec. 14, the boys swim team traveled to Central Washington University to swim against Hanford and Richland. They lost 104-59 and 129-56 respectively, but Coach James Elwyn is optimistic.

“We were close in the first two relays, and most boys continued to improve,” Elwyn said.

Senior Tommy Higley won the 50-yard freestyle, and the 200-yard medley relay, made up of sophomore Jared Vargas, sophomore Austin Boese, freshman Kaleb Pringle, and Higley placed second. Vargas also placed second in the 500-yard freestyle and third in the 200-yard individual medley. Boese placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, and the 400-yard freestyle relay made up of  Vargas, Pringle, Higley, and sophomore Jack Van Well placed third.

On Dec. 12 in the Wenatchee pool, the Panthers swam against rival Moses Lake. They lost 105-80, however, they placed second in the 200 medley relay, made up of  Vargas, Boese, Pringle, and Higley; and the 200-yard freestyle relay, made up of Vargas, Boese, senior Josiah Anderson, and Higley. Vargas made a state qualifying time of 2:01.89 in the 200 IM, beating rival Brenden Eslick from Moses Lake by .04 seconds.

Other highlights from the meet are sophomore Jack Van Well placing first in the 500-yard freestyle and Vargas placing first in the 100 breaststroke.

The boys began their season with a sprint meet in Moses Lake on Dec. 5. Every individual event was half its usual distance. There were six teams at the meet.

Boese said that this was his first sprint meet, and thought it was a good idea. “It was important for the new swimmers to get a feel for the meets without the [longer] distance,” Boese said. “It was pretty good, I got some personal bests and did better than last year.”

The team as a whole did pretty well at the meet, according to Elwyn. While it was an unscored meet, Elwyn thought the Panthers did pretty well, although Moses Lake most likely won. “We got good indications as to where we are now — we’ll see if we can catch Moses Lake. Davis is better this year, so is Eastmont, but no one is unbeatable,” Elwyn said. “We had some nice surprises [at the meet] from guys who worked in the offseason.”

Vargas won both the 100 IM and and the 50-yard breaststroke, sophomore Jack Van Well placed second in the 500 freestyle, sophomore Mitchell Thacker placed second in the one-meter dive, and Boese placed second in the 50 breast.

Wenatchee also placed second in all three relays — the 400 free relay made up of Van Well, Vargas, Pringle, and senior Garrett Christensen; the 200 free relay made up of Christensen, Cid Arreguin, Van Well, and Boese; and the 200 medley relay made up of Vargas, Boese, Christensen, and Thacker.

Last year, the Panthers placed second in the league and fourth at the District meet. Elwyn said that the team’s goal this year are to get stronger and drop times.