The Tigersharks look to continue their success this season as they go into championship season, which starts with district, and can hopefully lead the Tigersharks to state. Some leaders for the swim team this year are senior Owen Young and Junior Eli Likins.

The duo also competed on this year’s water polo team. Both of them have been contributing to the Tigersharks since they were freshmen. Owen is a younger brother of a Tigershark while Eli has had two older brothers compete as Tigersharks and now he gets to mentor his younger brother sophomore Max Likins.

In the Frisco TISCA meet, the boys placed second, just seconds away from first place and left the meet feeling accomplished. Eli has done more than just carry on the tradition as he recently just stamped his name in the record books, breaking team records in the 100 meter freestyle and the 100 meter backstroke. His time in the 100 meter backstroke was not only a team record but a meet record. 

“This year, I don’t feel a ton of pressure upholding expectations set by former swimmers,” Likins said. “My freshman and sophomore years in swim I did feel some pressure to exceed everyone’s expectations, but now it doesn’t bother me too much.” 

Even though the team started strong they still feel like there are many things they can work on to get faster and bring their times down. The relays bring the team together as they count on each other and need to execute it perfectly to save every second. 

“Moving forward, our team really just needs to focus on the fine details,” Likins said. “Our relays all did very well at the meet, so we really just need to refine the very small details to drop another second or so.”