The Hawks swimming team has had a strong start this season, and plan to continue that success going into the rest of the season, said head coach Liz Zenuk.

The team has competed in three meets since the start of February, with their most recent meet taking place Hoos for the Los Rios Invitational on Feb. 21. Zenuk said she was pleased with the team’s performance so far.

“It’s really nice to see this early success,” said Zenuk. “It’s a good indication that all the hard work we’ve put in is paying off.”

Zenuk said the most recent meet was a particularly good showing for the team.

“Last meet was awesome for us,” said Zenuk. “It was the first time this season we swam against teams in the Big 8.”

Zenuk pointed out freshmen swimmer Brylee Brophy as a standout in the event, having in the top three in all her individual events. Zenuk also brought up sophomore Emily Kline and freshman Madison Ledbetter as people to look out for during the season.

“Our team currently holds 11 school records” said Zenuk. “As the season continues we expect those to drop even lower as we swim faster and train harder.”

Two of these records were achieved during the last meet, said Zenuk. These include the 200 and 400 medley relay, with times of 2:10:97 and 4:56:45 respectively, said Zenuk.

The team sticks to a strict training schedule, said Zenuk. This training consists of two components, dry land training and pool training, said Zenuk.

The dry land training focuses on flexibility and strength, while pool training focuses on meeting specific benchmarks, Zenuk said. She said the team is currently in a building phase, working on “making leaps in yards and intensity.”

“We’re halfway through what we call phase two of our training,” said Zenuk. “It seems to have been paying off when we raced at the meets.”

The teams training will get even more serious as the season progresses, said Zenuk. Currently, the team is looking towards reaching the Big 8 conference, said Zenuk.

“Our goal is to have multiple athletes make finals in individual events during conferences,” said Zenuk. “We are also looking at possible state qualifying cuts.”

Zenuk said there was also a focus on making sure the team remained injury free and academically sound. She said she wants to help them understand what being a student athlete means.

The team’s next meetup will be the Cosumnes River College Invitational. The event will take place on campus on Feb. 29.