Although the Boy’s swim team lost 10 swimmers from last year’s 3rd place team (including State Champions Kade Couchman and Dane Griffin), first-year head Coach Samuel Stewart has some lofty goals for his much younger team. “Even though we lost a lot of guys, I still expect a few of our guys to do well. Junior Weston Stewart (no relation) is one of the top distance swimmers in the state. He broke the team record in the 500-yard freestyle last year, and will also swim the 200-yard free as well. He works extremely hard and is dedicated to being a good student athlete both in and out of the pool. He makes good grades, and I cannot say enough good things about him. As a Sophomore, he finished 5th in State in the 200 and 4th in the 500, and our goal is for him to make the top 3 in each of those events this year,” said Coach Stewart.
“Another guy that I am really proud of is our Captain, Cody Higbee. He is a Senior this year. He is the hardest-working guy on the team, and motivates everyone to work harder. Our goal for him is to make the final in the 200 Individual medley, and the 100 backstroke,” Coach Stewart said.
As for the girls’ team, they do not have as much rebuilding to do as they did not lose nearly as many teammates. “Our girls finished 7th in the state last year, and we are counting on doing better this year. Our Captain, Shyann Kissinger, has the ability to win the 200 and the 500 freestyle events. She missed winning the 500 last year by .1 second, which was heartbreaking. We are also looking for Elsa Stewart to make the finals in her events (50 and 100 free). As a team, we are really shooting for top 5 placement,” said Coach Stewart.
While this is the first year Coach Stewart has been the head coach for Enid High, he has been the assistant for the last 6 years and has headed up the Enid Club team, the “Aquatic Club of Enid” for the last ten year. “We have a really strong swimming culture here in Enid, and while we never turn anyone away from the club team, we are pretty full mainly due to the facilities we have available. We compete all over the state and host our own meets too. It’s a great program and a great sport.”
Along with our sponsor Slater Mechanical, we wish the Boys and Girls Swim Team good luck this year!
