Last year, the Brophy Swim Team lost the state championship for the second time in 32 years. Despite this, swim coach Daren Brubaker was proud of his team’s performance

“A lot of people wrote us off,” said Brubaker, “but we battled and we overperformed. I think it ended really well.”

Coach Brubaker is hoping to use last season’s outcome as motivation for a strong start to the season, specifically theAMDG Invite, Brophy’s final invite before state. However, Brubaker understands that motivation alone will not translate into success, and therefore his team has trained vigorously in the offseason to be stronger this year. 

“I made it a goal for my student athletes to come back and work hard,” said Brubaker. “I’m a firm believer that whatever you put into the sport is what you get out of it.”

On the specifics of training, Brubaker has his team focused on increasing their lower body strength while also trying “to stimulate the nervous system,” which gets that “fast twitch going.” Fast-twitch muscles are important to swimmers, especially those who race short distances.

Aside from diligently training, the swim team is also very keen on fostering a positive, uplifting environment. According to Finnegan Crawford ’23, one his main responsibilities as one of the four team captains is making sure everyone on the team feels at home.

“Even when they don’t swim fast,” Crawford said, “ [we try to make] them feel good about it because it’s not the end of the world.”

The comradity and family-like feel of the team, along with their intense offseason training, has Brophy swim poised for another exciting-and hopefully more successful-season.