High school swimmers across Southeast will meet in Juneau Oct. 30-31 for the regional competition.
For Petersburg’s team, it’s been an unusual season. They started the year without access to the community’s only pool due to months of construction. That also prevented the team from hosting a meet in Petersburg this year.
Head coach Andy Carlisle told KFSK’s Taylor Heckart that it impacted the way the team approached the start of their season.
Listen here:
Andy Carlisle: Well, it made me feel hurried when we finally got in the pool.
A lot of kids miss the first week anyway because they’re, you know, doing whatever summer stuff they do. But then once we got in the pool, I’m trying to fit 12 or 13 weeks of stuff into 10 weeks.
So I think we’re okay now. I think we got all caught up.
Taylor Heckart: And what is the makeup of the team this year? How many new versus experienced folks do we have?
Andy Carlisle: We have 11 swimmers this year, which is more than we’ve had in a while, and eight of them are freshmen.
Taylor Heckart: That’s major.
Andy Carlisle: That’s a big. That’s a big group of freshmen, and five of those are freshman boys.
Taylor Heckart: Okay, So eight freshmen. That’s a lot of folks that are learning a lot of things.
Andy Carlisle: Some of them have been swimming for a long time.
Taylor Heckart: So they’re alright.
Andy Carlisle: Yeah.
Taylor Heckart: How have they been reacting to this season as their first year on the high school swim team?
Andy Carlisle: Well, we get used to each other. It was a little bit of a rocky start, but everybody gets it now. I understand them better. They understand me being grumpy better,
Taylor Heckart: And they have three more years to figure that out too! Talk to me maybe about some of the more experienced swimmers. Do we have any seniors this year?
Andy Carlisle: Just Libby [Olivia] Hinde
Taylor Heckart: How’s she doing?
Andy Carlisle: She’s doing great. She had a little shoulder issue for a little bit, but got that sorted out, so she’s all ready to go.
And then we have Bella Miller and Lexi Tow are both juniors, and they’ve made it to state the last two years. So this will be their third year, and I assume they’ll make it again.
Taylor Heckart: So it sounds like you feel very confident in the way that the team is being set up for regions.
Andy Carlisle: I’m feeling pretty confident. Yes.
Taylor Heckart: Have there been any especially standout performances this season from your swimmers that you wanted to highlight?
Andy Carlisle: I think everybody has done good things, depending on where they’re at. Because someone like Cyrus Hulebak and Hakon Eddy, who have been doing this for a while, they’ve reached the point where they’re not going to be taking big chunks of time off things.
But they’re swimming right at best times now, if not just a little better than best times, being tired and we haven’t rested yet. So I’m pretty confident there.
And then just at the last meet, Tavyn Cabral and Cedar Littleton and Derek Allison all took big chunks of time off. It was probably because we missed our [home] meet. They had a whole month of practice.
Taylor Heckart: I’m curious about this because — I am no swimmer — when the team wasn’t able to have their home meet, it sounds like in some ways it could have been fine because they just keep practicing. Is that right?
Andy Carlisle: Well, as a coach, I kind of like that because I didn’t have to stop in the middle of something. But also, on the flip side, I use those meets to see where we’re at in training and make adjustments. But we didn’t have that.
Taylor Heckart: So a bit of a double-edged sword.
Andy Carlisle: A little bit.
Taylor Heckart: I like to ask you this because I think it’s very enlightening: what race are you most excited to see during regions?
Andy Carlisle: Probably Cyrus’s 200 IM [Individual Medley].
Taylor Heckart: Why?
Andy Carlisle: Because he is all about it, man. Every little thing. It’s pretty funny.
Taylor Heckart: Yeah?
Andy Carlisle: Yeah. He’s got all his splits figured out in his head, and he’s got it all narrowed down. Yeah, it’s fun.
