The boys’ swimming team at River Dell is known for being a strong sports program, successful due to their dedication and teamwork.
The season takes place during the winter, but the team begins training long before the season starts, practicing in the pool to build endurance, perfect their technique, and improve their speed. They participate in team drills and strength building exercises during practices as early as six in the morning. Weeks of grueling practice allows them to remain competitive throughout the season.
Throughout the season, the team demonstrates that teamwork is key to their success, excelling in events such as the relay races. During the 2023-2024 season, Christian Piergentile, Joshua Yu, Jeffrey Jeong, and Kevin Smith took home second place in the 200-meter relay in a tough meet against Ridgewood, who was 7-2 during that time.
According to senior captain Jeffrey Jeong, “Swimming has widely been considered an individual sport. It has been a repeated idea among private, club swimming that once it is time to compete and race, the only thing that matters are you and your own mentality. In a nutshell, club/private swimming is essentially an individual sport, rather than a team sport. This is why I enjoy being in a team so much: because the environment greatly contrasts with that of private swimming. Everyone is cheering for you, and a sense of camaraderie develops in a team setting, which a club team could never replicate”.
With this level of support, individual players are also able to shine, with Jeong dominating the 100 fly at a successful meet against Lakewood during the 2023-2024 season, coming into first place six seconds faster than second place. During the same season, sophomore Gabriel Orellana took third place in the 500 free against Fair Lawn with a whopping thirty second difference between third and fourth place times.
This season, the team is looking forward to being back at the pool and continuing to build their team environment. With only one member on the team graduating as the class of 2024, the team remains strong, with new talent from the class of 2029. Come and support the team at their first meet at 4pm, December 4th against Fairlawn at the Garfield Boys & Girls Club!
