By Jack Weaver ’15 | Staff Writer

It’s hard not to notice the incredible feats the boy’s swim team was able to accomplish this season.

Entering the season, many senior leaders on the team expected to have a steady season, as well as hopes to finish top 10 in the state meet. However, the team placed third in the state on Sunday, March 8.

“I never thought we would do this well,” said captain Pat Jackson ’14. “We all swam our best times and overall had a great team performance.”

Jacob Montague ’14 agrees.

“It definitely exceeded my expectations,” said Montague. “I broke two individual school records, was All-State four times and was a part of a relay school record that also earned All-American. At the beginning of the year, if you would have told me that all of that would happen, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

The boy’s team would cruise through their regular season meets winning the majority of them, and would pick up their 15th straight conference championship along the way.  Along with the championship, they set one school record, three pool records and five conference records.

“We started off unsure about how well we would do, but we kept improving,” said captain Nick Yoo ’14. “As the season progressed, we started realizing our potential more and more, so we were able to stay focused on the end through a long season.”

After numerous achievements, the state team would have their eyes set on finishing atop the podium in the biggest meet of the year. Although they were in a very similar situation as the South teams before them, this group would carry a mentality that overall greatly contributed to their success.

“One of the biggest factors in our success this state meet was the team-above-self mentality,” said Head Coach Eric Gunderson. “A few of the guys definitely made personal sacrifices in regards to their individual events and their event combinations as a whole in favor of what would earn the most points for the team. These were decisions that they embraced, and we definitely wouldn’t have been as successful without this approach.”

The mentality and sacrifices made by the team, would prove to be highly beneficial during the state meet. Not only did most of the boys finish with their best times, but South would go on to get 3rd place in the meet, making one of the best state finishes in South swimming history.

“We were thrilled,” said Yoo ’14. “There was a lot of anticipation during the meet, we were tallying points event by event, so we were so excited to get the trophy.”

For Montague ’14, setting personal goals is always satisfying, especially at the state level, but he gave his teammates all the credit for his success.

“I could not have had such a successful state meet without my teammates,” said Montague ’14. “From standing behind your lane during the race to standing next to you on the relay, we push each other to be the best we can. Being able to stand up there with them holding a trophy was the best thing ever, because we knew how much work went into winning the trophy.”