Diving into the moment they have been preparing for all season, the Redhawks swim team is off to the District 9-5A meet on Friday with head swim coach Nick Dion and swimmers excited to compete.

“I am excited, I am, I you know we have worked really hard for five months for pretty much everybody,” Dion said. “So we’re really looking forward to the challenge of facing one of the toughest districts in the state and getting our kids out having an opportunity for regionals.”

Ranked 1st in the  200 freestyle and 3rd in the 500 freestyle, junior Maria Oushalkas is confident in her abilities to do well at districts. 

“I feel pretty confident about districts,” Oushalkas said. “All I have to do is really just swim my best and I’ll make it to regionals. My biggest strength going into this is my underwaters. It’s something that most swimmers don’t actually try on, which actually gives me an advantage because I’m less tired. And I also I have just like a grit that most people don’t have when it comes to this sport.” 

Always looking ahead, Dion hopes for everyone to just try their best and hopefully achieve the next level of success. 

“Goals for the team is for everybody to post best times,” Dion said. “Obviously get some folks out to regionals to be able to compete at that next level, but really looking for everybody to have great swims and swim fast.”