A New Era of Swimming

Sophomore Damon Miller has been on swim team for most of his life.

Sophomore Damon Miller has been on swim team for most of his life.

by Zac Stork

The Atlantic School District confirmed the kickoff of a new sport this year. A boys and girls swim team was started in 2006 through the YMCA. The Flying Sharks started off slowly, but evolved into the dominating swim team they are today. Some of the Flying Sharks original members, who are now AHS students, are part of the reason the team was so dominant. The only way to compete on a high school swim team would be to drive an hour (one-way) to practice five days a week at Lewis Central. It was obvious that a swim team would soon be proposed.

According to athletic director Matt Alexander, he acquired his job at ACSD on the “tail end” of the swim team proposition.

“Swim team is a great way to give the students an extra choice. It may give students a sport that they will enjoy more than some of our normal winter sports, like wrestling or basketball,” said Alexander.

“One of the biggest problems we encountered in the arrangement of both our girls and boys swim team were finding competition,” said Alexander. “Being a first-year swim team, it was hard setting up our schedule. All of the other schools around Atlantic with a swim team already had full schedules.”

But that was not the only challenge in setting up the swim teams. Alexander also talked about the funding aspect which, in all, would equal about $7,500. Another challenge was getting a certain number of swimmers out in order to keep the sport. The girls and boys both were required to have at least 10 swimmers out to keep the program for another year.

With the creation of a swim team, a head coach would be needed. Dean Junker was selected to be the head coach of the new program for both boys and girls. Junker has been coaching the Flying Sharks since 2006, and was happy to take the job. “I knew how hard it would be for (AHS) to find a coach, so I took the job. I know it cuts into my hunting and social time, but I wanted to get the program going and build it up from the ground.”

Junker said he expects the team to be competitive, even though they don’t have enough people to compete with other teams in the conference.

Sophomore Damon Miller is one of many Atlantic High School students who has been swimming for most of his life. Miller swam for the Flying Sharks throughout his middle school career, before attending the swim team at Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs his freshman year of high school. “The new swim team here at AHS changed the sport for me. Now, I don’t have to drive an hour just to get a good practice in,” said Miller. “And now I get to compete for my own school, which gives me more motivation towards winning.”