The King’s Academy has accomplished a plethora of great things in many facets ranging from fine arts to athletics to academics. This year, The King’s Academy’s swim team achieved some of the greatest accolades in The King’s Academy’s history through the boys team winning the district and regional championships, and the girls winning the regional runner-up title. In addition, in just a single season, the boys crushed every single school record, and the girls set new records in all of the relay races along with a few individual races as well. To augment this already long list of achievements, members from both teams successfully competed at the state level, placing the crowning jewels on an already golden season. This year at states, the boys team placed fifth overall and the girls secured the tenth-place spot.
Eleven swimmers from TKA competed and placed in various medleys and individual races. Josh Zuchowski, Noah Sipowski, Christian Proscia, and Will Coady took the first-place title for the Boys 200 Medley, and Logan Zielinski, Rachel Clancy, Brooke Engstrom, and Paige Munna placed fourth in the Girls 200 Medley. Pace Edwards placed seventh overall in the 200 free, Noah Sipowski placed fifth in the 100 breast, and Will Coady placed eighth in the 100 free. Finally, Florida’s “Mr. Swimming” and Olympic Trials qualifier, Josh Zuchowski, once again, became a state champion in the 200 IM and the 100 back.
Beyond their accolades and recognition state-wide, The King’s Academy swim team has an unbreakable bond that is the root and secret to their successes. When asked about her experience on the swim team and states this year, senior and swim captain Brooke Engstrom said that “This swim season, our focus as a team was to value and pursue excellence as a team rather than just for ourselves. We knew that if we practiced hard and gave our all for each other, we were going to do better individually as a result. By having that as our focus, we became even closer than we already were and had many successes as a result. Overall, this swim season has been the best one yet and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to end my high-school swimming career.” By focusing on a collective group effort and not on themselves, The King’s Academy swim team was able to achieve remarkable things and will continue to dominate the competition, train, and become even greater next season.