Reigning Southwest Prairie Conference Champions, North boys’ swim and dive is ready for another season to keep their title.

The team has won three invitationals so far  including the York invite.

“This season our team is looking the best I’ve ever seen it,” senior Joe Jamo said. “We have amazing depth in all events. It’s really exciting to compete and watch our team succeed.”

Head coach George Sam is also proud of how the boy are performing and is excited for the rest of the season.

“They are dominating on every front,” Sam said.

The team has won conference for the past three years and are working hard to retain that title.

“It’s always tough going into conference as reigning champs,” Sam said. “Everyone wants to take you down.”

Jamo says he has “high hopes” for what the team will do come conference. But, the team is looking to improve how they do at sectionals and state.

“For sectionals last year, we placed 4^th and with the way things are going now we’re looking to improve that ranking,” Jamo said. “Last year for state we had six state qualifiers, and this year we would love to have the same or more.”

Besides just improving, the team has some more specific goals for their post season.

“We want to place top five at sectionals and top 10 at state,” Sam said.

To achieve these goals, the team is working hard at practice. Sam has specific training for the team  to make sure they are in the best position for their meets.

“We do all kinds of training,” Sam said. “[We swim] 7,000 yards a day, lots of sprinting, using parachutes, shortcuts and tempo trainers.”

Jamo is confident in the way the team practices and is hopeful for the rest of the season.

“We have been constantly working hard in practice and coach consistently pushes us to make sure that we are doing the best we can,” Jamo said.

Senior Liam Davis agrees with Jamo and is excited for the way this season has progressed. He believes their success has everything to do with hard work and coaching.

“I trust in the effort that the team has been putting in as well as our great coaching,” Davis said. “[I] believe we will have an excellent championship season.”

The team lost a couple talented seniors in May, but the loss has been balanced by some fast underclassmen. Sam, however, says this group has a lot of maturity despite the introduction of the younger swimmers.

“Last year, we had a great group of guys and we had a very successful season with them,” Jamo said. “But, now that this year is upon us and the seniors from last year are gone, there were a few gaps to fill and we filled them good.”

Davis also believes the new additions have benefitted the team.

“We gained a lot of fast freshmen this year and the team is looking good if not better than past years,” Davis said.

The team is also working hard to improve on their own and achieve personal goals. Jamo is proud of his successes so far.

“This season for me has been going very well,” Jamo said. “I’m working hard on the water every day and striving to become better and better each practice. I haven’t achieved my goals yet which is okay because the more I practice at them, the stronger I’ll get and eventually meet those goals.”

Davis, too, has his eyes on the prize and is determined to meet his end goal.

“I would like to go to state in all of my events and to at least make the b final at State as well as renew my Junior Nationals cuts,” Davis said.

In order to achieve another big conference win, the team has a strategy to make sure they come out on top.

“Our plan is to walk in, swim fast, and leave with a victory,” Jamo said.