The music was bumpin’, and the class of ‘012 stared bewildered, wide-eyed, while the experienced upperclassmen giggled and reveled in the amusement. The boys swim team had made their famous entrance to the winter sports assembly. With their infamous strip-tease, boy-on-boy action, and general chaos in the gym all while clad only in their barely-there speedos, the boys swim team could easily come across as careless or goofy. While the latter may be true, the first is definitely false. Although the team is fun-loving, they are also stacked with talent and have high expectations for the upcoming season.

The girls team is a powerhouse, especially in the past years, winning or placing top three at state. Consequently, the boys have always seemed to fall by the wayside. This year looks to be different. “Even before the season started, I knew we had the potential to win state,” says head coach Emily Weber.

After graduating only three seniors, the team boasts a number of talented and experienced swimmers on a team that has doubled in size since last year. Captains Carl Majeau and Anton Devore lead the pack, specializing in the 500 meter freestyle, and 200 meter IM, respectively. This, however, is not to discredit the rest of the team, though.

“We have boys healthy again this year,” says Weber, “The team is just bigger, faster, stronger, and pumped up.”

Senior Owen Howey specializes in the 100 meter freestyle, and the Walker brothers, junior Reid and senior Jesse, also add some legit talent to the pool. As senior Daniel Rinker aptly puts it, “We’re pretty much the best swim team GHS will ever and has ever had.”

With the amount of talent and potential on the team, it comes as no surprise that Coach Weber is pushing the boys for a state title. “We have four goals this year,” says Weber, “We want to win one meet at a time, win all our dual meets, win districts, and then place in the top three, if not win state.”

Adding to the boys’ chances at a state title is the disunion of Snohomish High School, a traditional rival of the swim team. The school became too large and in essence, had to split apart. Consequently, their swim team split as well, making them significantly less competitive and less of a threat to the Bulldogs. In addition, Kamiak High School’s strong swim program, while still 4A, is in the other division, and will therefore be unable to face the Bulldog swimmers until districts.

However, this team is not just a team based in training and cutthroat competitiveness, this is a team with a distinct personality that loves to have fun.

“We’re the happiest most easy going team,” says Weber. “We show up to meets to win, with no chips on our shoulder, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We just have more personality than any other team we swim against.”

The comradery on the team is one rivaled by few teams. As co-captain Devore puts it, “We get along like PB and J.” However, Majeau was quick to clarify, “But not in a gay way.”

Whether it’s in a gay way or not, the team is also unbelievably comfortable with one another. According to junior Sam Woestwin, naked showers have doubled, if not tripled since the season has started. Shower games have been implemented, which include the moves, the helicopter, sneaky elephant, and the peeping Tom. Clearly, these boys all get along.

Perhaps more than winning, a need to simply look good fuels these boys. Coach Weber has implemented a goal of team six-packs, which all the boys were keen upon. The boys seem to strive after Majeau’s example, as one swimmer stated, “God, it’s like a crevass! You could wash clothes on that thing!” These boys set their standards high.

So yes, the boys swim team can be a bit goofy, a bit vain, and a bit flamboyant, but they are a legitimate group of athletes with legitimate goals. Yes, they’re all hankering for those sexy, enviable abs, but at heart, these boys want something even more enviable — a state title. So don’t be too quick to write these boys off as simply fun-loving freestylers. They’re also looking to bring home a big shiny trophy at the end of the season, in which they hopefully won’t look at themselves too much.