Heart in the Water: Rancho Swim’s Invitational Meet

Rain, Wind, and Personal Records: Rancho Swim Shines at Invitationals

Swimmer Ophelia McFarland diving into the water.

On Saturday, October 17th, the Rancho Solano Swim Team headed to PCDS to swim at the Small School Invitationals. This was Rancho’s second invitational meet, and these swim meets are some of the most important, due not only to the fact that the team must be personally selected to attend, but also since they allow people to qualify for the prestigious end-of-year state championship. 

To continue, the swimmers showed excellent perseverance, since the meet landed on a day that not only rained, but was also windy. Despite this, the team swam their best, with many ending up in 1st place for their heat, or group. As 9th grade student Mallory Peacock adds to this: “I launched off of the block, doing one of the best races of all time during this meet.”  Many students also set personal records for their own times. Overall, the meet was full of new personal records set, as well as teamwork and determination.

Swimmers Kai Ellis, Jacob Kandilas, and Jesse Koffler cheering on teammate Grant Av

Some members of the swim team ended up making times, which were fast enough for the aforementioned state championship. Swim’s annual state championship is a meet of a higher level than invitationals, and is of a much larger scale than the invitationals. One of the qualifying students, 11th grader Jaelyn Kandilas, had to say: “It feels really good, the work I’ve put in pays off and I enjoy big meets like state.” This state championship will occur on or around the date of November 7th. In total, the Small School Invitationals was a highly successful meet, with many swimmers qualifying for the upcoming State meet, as well as excitement and true determination for the goal. 9th grade student Jacob Kandilas said: “It was a good meet for me because I got prs in both of my events. I thought it was also a great meet for the boys' team because we dropped three seconds in our 200yd freestyle relay. The overall meet energy was also great because of the music and team vibes.”

 To conclude this, this meet was one of the most successful for Rancho and made our team even more excited about the rest of this season.