By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
There is a new excitement this winter for the Burlington co-op boys swim team.
That is because a total of 26 athletes are out for the squad this season. The boys are all from either Burlington or Waterford high schools.
“We more than doubled our team this year,” head coach Denita Jones said.
Jones noted that all the boys on last year’s squad recruited other athletes from their schools.
“They were very successful doing so,” Jones said.
The additional athletes have created a lot of competition during the first two weeks of practices.
“It is a totally different atmosphere,” Jones noted. “A lot of energy in the pool.”
Six returning letterwinners will anchor this year’s team, led by co-captains, seniors Anthony Krebs and Shaun Weber of BHS.
Krebs competed last year in the 50 and 100 freestyle, while Weber is the team’s distance swimmer (200 and 500 freestyle).
Junior David Jones of Waterford, last year’s most valuable player on the team, also is back.
“He’s our top breaststroker and freestyler,” coach Jones said of her son.
Another swimmer back from last season is junior Andrew Brutlog of WHS.
“He’s my 200 IM’er (individual medley) and swims the 100 breaststroke,” Jones noted.
Two new swimmers who Jones believes will make immediate contributions to the team are seniors Austin Harris and Michael Heft, both from BHS.
Both will compete in the freestyle and backstroke.
“These are boys who used to swim on club for me years ago,” Jones said.
Jones added that she is confident there will be others among the new team members who will also contribute, but that it was too early in practices yet to know who they would be.
While it could be a challenge to blend the new team members in with the old, Jones sees that as a strength, noting that most of the new recruits are friends of last year’s team members.
“That will be an easy transition,” Jones said.
Another strength of this year’s squad will be the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. At this point, Jones sees those two teams made up of Jones, Weber, Krebs and Harris.
Although the co-op team has not won a dual meet in at least several seasons, Jones believes that will change this year.
“Our goal is to win a couple of dual meets,” she noted.
Winning duals means that a team needs to have multiple swimmers place in multiple events.
“Now I have the numbers to do that,” Jones said.
Elkhorn is once again the top team in the Southern Lakes Conference, according to Jones. Elkhorn won the SLC last year.
The Demons will find out right away where they stack in the SLC, because the boys opening action is Thursday, Nov. 29, at the SLC Relays held at Elkhorn.
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