Friday, Oct. 03, 2008

Programs Face New Year in Tougher District

Swimming and Diving

By John English

Contributing Writer

As the Marcus and Flower Mound swim teams gear up for the fall season, coaches Shannon Gillespy and Dan Snow agree that they are in a much tougher district. Realignment has brought strong programs in from the Plano school district, as well as Southlake Carroll.

Gillespy said her Marcus team has some good swimmers returning and said the main objective is for her swimmers to get in the best shape possible before December.

"We’re in a tough district, and I’ll leave that as it is," Gillespy said. "But there are some possibilities that Marcus High School swimmers and divers have, and we have a great outlook. We’ve been training for about four weeks both in the water and dry land, and I like their attitude.

"I think they are going to go places."

Gillespy said she has a couple of goals in mind for the fall season.

"I would like to finish in the top three at TISCA," Gillespy said. "I would certainly like to win all of my dual meets, and mainly just be in a position in December where people say, 'Oh, you’ve got to worry about those Marcus kids.’"

Gillespy said she expects a number of Marcus swimmers to have big seasons, including freshmen Ali Smith and MacKenzie Thornton and returning state qualifiers Shannon Samluk, Mo Mullins and Amy Kent.

On the boys side, Sean Faber, David Durand and Matt Anderson are expected to have strong years for the Marauders swim team.

Over at Flower Mound, Snow is equally optimistic about his team’s chances this season and said the Flower Mound swim team has a busy schedule ahead.

"We have three meets in October, and then the team will divide up into JV and varsity squads in November for a number of meets, and then we have a big competition right before Thanksgiving (TISCA)," Snow said. "The team is really doing well with their training, and I am impressed with their attendance and hard work, and I think it’s going to be a really, really good year for us. I know that we are in a very difficult district this year, but we’re excited about that."

Snow said he, too, is expecting a number of swimmers to have strong years, including Jake Brown, who swam on a state champion relay team last school year, and state qualifiers Allison Moffitt and Kelsey Fugere.

"We’re looking for big things from all three of them, and we have a bunch of freshman swimmers that we are excited about, too" Snow said.

Snow said the goal for the fall for his team is to get strong and develop the best technique possible before the hard training begins in December, and like Gillespy, he believes the district is much more difficult this year.

"It is extremely tough," Snow said. "Not only do we get Carroll, but we also have the Plano schools moving in, so the ability to move from district to regionals this year is unbelievably more difficult than it was last year—and that’s for everybody."