2015 Preview: Hillsboro swimming looks to continue improvement
The Hillsboro boys and girls swimming teams have already begun their seasons, but even in the early stages of this 2015-16 campaign for the Indians and Lady Indians, there is still a lot of optimism and hope for continued improvement as they continue to build their program.
For the HHS girls team, coach Joe Rhonemus said the numbers weren’t great, as he had just five swimmers, but he did say the group of swimmers were talented.
“We only have five girls on the team, but the five we do have are extremely talented,” Rhonemus said. “We took four to sectionals down in Athens last year and placed ninth out of 20 teams.
“With just four girls last year, that’s a pretty good feat.”
The girls swimming team consists of senior Reaghan Haines, sophomores Izzy Bourne, Marissa Daniels and Brittany Rhoads and freshman Hannah Haines.
“This year is exciting because most of the girls are young, because we only have one senior, so we are looking to build forward on that,” Rhonemus said. “There is a lot of really good talent.”
Rhonemus said Rhodes will be swimming some butterfly events and some individual medley events. First-year swimmer Reaghan Haines is the lone senior, who Rhonemus is impressed with.
“With Reaghan, this is her first year on the team, and she’s proven she can do some good things for us,” Rhonemus said. “She’s kicking herself she didn’t swim before her senior season.
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“Izzy, Hannah and Marissa are also really good. Swimming is the one sport, like track, where if you don’t have enough to compete as a team, you can still do a lot individually. You can go as high as you want to go.”
For the boys team, there are 11 members on the team, as they include: Bailey Lucarello, Jonah Humphries, Braxton Huhn, Micheal Rose, Chollatee Sanguanlertruthai, Jaime Carmona-Sanchez, Braden Wildey, Micah Pinney, Ty Alexander, Sevrin Florek and William Albert.
“This is the most boys swimmers I’ve had in four seasons, and all 11 of them are good swimmers,” Rhonemus said. “I have one that is coming along really well, but they are all good, and this is the most talent we’ve had.”
Wildey, a senior, has been close to making state in past seasons, as this is his fourth season with the program.
“If he has a good year this year, which I believe he is going to, we are shooting for him to qualify for state,” Rhonemus said. “We are trying to get folks in Hillsboro to see that swimming is here, and it’s going to take some time to get the program built up.
“Once it gets going, it will be a sport that kids will really enjoy. We have just one senior this year, so we have a nice group of swimmers to build the program around for the year and in future seasons. I do believe we can compete this year in every meet we swim in.”
Last season, the Indians placed fourth in the SCOL with just four swimmers, and placed ninth in the sectionals.
“Once we get to the point where we have consistent numbers, I’m excited to see where this program can go,” Rhonemus said. “They work hard, and we are excited for this year. We have the talent, the numbers and they are good kids.”