The swim team has dove into their new season and is looking to build off of last years success.

     “We’re way stronger this year than we were last year,” swim coach Alexandra Damon said.

     Last year, the team that went to state was made up of six boys, senior Austin Ngo, senior Andrew Ham, senior Thomas Kuo, junior Jacob Sanchez, senior Alex Sanchez and senior Lucas Ma, and due to the strength of the swim team this year, there is a strong chance that the swim team will return to state this year as well.

     The team had their first meet on Sept. 18. This one was an intersquad meet, meaning that the swim team was split into two groups, maroon and white. The two teams are composed of random members from all grades and from both junior varsity and varsity.

     Swim participated in the Ranger Relays meet on Sept. 28 in Dallas. This meet included 16 teams from all around the region. Each team works to accumulate points rather than having just the individual times. The Wildcats finished in fifth place, coming away with 348 points.

     “The meet is jam packed and always fun,” Alex Sanchez said.

    The team finished in first place with the fastest times in 11 events in the Plano Tri Meet on Oct. 1. In the men’s 200-yard medley relay, a team of Austin Ngo, Alex Sanchez, Andrew Ham and Thomas Kuo achieved first place with a time of 1:40.14. A team comprised of senior captain Bianca Weimer, junior Jessica Yin, junior Megan Maycock and freshman Emma Hrasko, had a time of 1:42.87 on the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay.

     “It was amazing,” Weimer said. “Everyone was cheering on all the other teammates, and we all had a lot of fun.”

     The team had a dual meet on the road against McKinney on Oct. 10. The Wildcats came out on top against the Lions in both men and women team rankings with 91-89 and 131-51 victories, respectively. Some notable victories include Ma’s first place time of 1:11.37 in the 100-yard breaststroke, as well as their first and second place victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay with times of 1:35.15 and 1:41.94, respectively. Weimer took home first place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 57.29 and was part of the winning team for the 400-yard freestyle relay that included Yin, Maycock and Hrasko who finished with a time of 3:47.64. In the 500-yard freestyle, the Wildcats took the top three spots with Jacob Sanchez, Ngo and senior Brandon Wang finishing in first, second and third, respectively. Out of 24 events, the team walked away with wins in 18 of them.

    Although this is their biggest team, dive is still rather small with only five members. The dive team participated in the meet on Oct. 10 where freshman Talan Blackmon won first place with 225 points.

     “It was Blackmon’s first dive competition with Plano Senior,” Weimer said.

     The team had a repeat of their success at the McKinney meet in another road matchup, this time against Prosper on Oct. 15. The combined team score ended up in the Wildcats’ favor by a score of 319-298. Sanchez came through for the team achieving first place for the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke with respective times of 1:55.92 and 58.99. Yin won the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard Backstroke with times of 2:14.84 and 1:00.14. Despite the score being so close, Prosper only came away with seven wins in 24 events.

    The results from the start of this season have Damon feeling optimistic. While there are many aspects that can’t be predicted, the outlook for the swim team this year is very good.

     “Last year we had an amazing turn out,” Damon said. “I just see us on an upwards projection.”