After months of renovations and one delay, the Mercer Park Aquatic Center pool officially reopened on January 17. The City High swim team has already returned to practicing at their own pool.

“[Throughout the season] there was a period where we were practicing at Robert A Lee, and we kind of just going from pool to pool like a homeless person sleeping from house to house,” Kento Yahashiri ‘23 said. “I was really thrilled about [returning to Mercer], because [part of] the spirit of our community still lies in the Mercer Aquatic Center.”

Another problem with missing Mercer for part of the season was the scheduling.

“Not being at Mercer really hurt our roster,” coach Mandi Kowal said. “Our schedule was all over the place, and I think it was really hard for us to coordinate.”

However, the swim team persevered, not losing a single meet until the final Duel against West, currently standing at 5-1-1 in Dual meets.

“We had a lot of time drops every meet, which is really fun to see,” Kowal said. “Sometimes it didn’t feel like we had had a good meet and then I’d go home and I’d do the stats, and think, ‘Oh, this was way better than I thought it was.’”

Currently the swim team is preparing for their district meet against other schools in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

“[Currently] we’re doing a lot of stuff with skills,” Kowal said. “For some reason, the second half of the [MVC Sophomore Conference meet] they seemed really tired. We’re just making sure we get our energy back”

The City High swim team will swim districts on Saturday, February 5 at Stephen Hempstead High School.

“[The team is] a really fun group,” coach Mandi Kowal said. “They connect from top to bottom, and they are very welcoming.”