The men’s swim team is ready to make a splash this season, starting off strong with their victory against Beaverton on January 5 with an upcoming meet on January 12 against Aloha at the Beaverton Pool.

The team is led by head coach Bryan Butcher and assistant coaches Richard Olsen, Joe Trasciatti, and Sarah Holman. A strong core of returning swimmers who are this year’s men’s swim captains include seniors Jack Alleman and Diego Nosack.

Coaches, captains, and swimmers have united to bring back the community to the team.

“One of the goals of the swim team this year is to bring back community, to make [the team] more of a community center,” Butcher said.“Which is always a challenge but that is what the captains are focused on this year.”

Other goals from the captains include keeping the team energized and engaged. The focus is on making sure swimmers are having fun and working towards their goals to ensure consistent attendance.

“We’re really pushing for a better sense of community this year after the seasons affected by COVID” Alleman said.

Despite measures the team is taking, they will face tough opposition from both teams and the current state of the aquatics industry.

The Jesuit Men’s Swim Team will be looking to compete against plenty of competition from rival schools such as Sunset, Westview, and Mountainside.

“Sunset is always strong, Westview are always strong competitors, and Mountainside is getting stronger and stronger every year. They are getting more and more swimmers every year,” Butcher said.

COVID still impacts pools in addition to the ongoing staffing lifeguard shortage. Some meets will be later at night and with different amounts of teams to combat these challenges.

“This is the first time post-COVID where we don’t have any swim meets before Christmas because there’s no pools to have them so it makes it harder to do community activities before Christmas,” Butcher said. “In the past, we’ve had two meets, all of us together and it kind of gelled the team for the next one in January.”

The team is focused on becoming a cornerstone of Jesuit athletics once again.

“One of the goals we have is to rebuild what we had prior to COVID because COVID restricted team size and we saw each other less,” Nosack said. “Getting to where we were before and doing as best we can in districts and state is our main focus.”

Returning talent also includes junior Graham Inman and sophomore Tenmy Wanpo. A newcomer, freshman Jack Wroblewski is also ready to perform.