With their last competitive season taking place nearly a year ago, Diamond Bar High School’s swim team has found itself having to recover from an array of significant setbacks.

Practice began Feb. 14 with a tryout being held towards the end of the month. Anyone capable of swimming all four strokes—freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly—earned a spot on the team, with placement in varsity being relative to other swimmers. 

The lax guidelines and barrier for entry are due to a mass exodus that the team experienced at the end of last season’s school year, with a majority of those seniors making up the team’s fastest swimmers. 

This season, the team is led by head coach Melanie Gonzalez and senior co-captains Kai-Min Tsuei, Kate Li, Akash George and Charlie Lin. Gonzalez replaced former coaches Isabella Cheng and an assistant head coach, who were removed earlier this year on account of their identities as non-DBHS teachers. 

Along with the decreased staff population, members are returning to the sport after a prolonged break from swimming. The season found itself starting later than usual due to the pandemic, and last year’s season was also shortened because of COVID. 

“A lot of us haven’t swam in a long time, but we’re going to try and make up the time through even harder practice,” junior Joshua Jenkins said. “We’re going to be starting off slow and work on distance until we can swim short distances at fast speeds.”

The team began their season with a swim meet against Ayala last Thursday–claiming close victories in both varsity boys and girls. The final boys relay was won with the help of freshman Tyler Huey, sophomore Ethan Ro, senior Akash George and junior Joshua Jenkins, respectively. 

They will have a home meet against Los Altos on Mar. 17 and compete at the Mt. Sac Winterfest Invitational over the weekend. 

“I have high hopes for the team since everybody seems motivated to improve and get better. I’m not entirely sure how we’re going to do in meets but I bet we’ll do great,” Jenkins said.