Capital City to debut boys swimming team

For the first time, the Capital City Cavaliers are ready to hop in the pool.

“Our motto for this year is to start strong,” Capital City swimming coach Carrie Koprowski said. “I think that’s exactly what we’ve done. … You’re taking swimmers who haven’t ever been on a swim team before, so our practices have been heavy on technique, making sure that they’re not going to get injured and that they can move efficiently through the water.”

Three swimmers will take part in the inaugural Cavalier swimming season: senior Xander Schmid, junior Jayden Keith and sophomore Gauang Mishra.

“Even though they’re inexperienced swimmers, they’re all very comfortable in the water,” Koprowski said. “So it really wasn’t starting from zero. They had a good place to begin and to build from.”

Originally, the plan was for the Capital City and Jefferson City swim teams to practice and compete together.

But Jefferson City has had no swimmers on the first day of practice. Jefferson City senior Trevor Dawson has since joined the roster and will become the Jays’ first swimmer this season.

Koprowski said though not many swimmers have joined the team yet, the reaction to the introduction of the programs has been heartwarming.

“We had tables at registration and it was great how many people stopped by the table,” Koprowski said. “They didn’t necessarily have any swimmers, but they just wanted to stop by and say how happy they were that the district had started a program and how they swam in high school or how they had kids that are either graduated and would have wanted to swim or they have kids who are younger and are excited to join the program in the future.”

The team will start the season today in a dual at Hickman, then will participate Sept. 6 in the Sedalia Duals, the Missouri Military Academy Tri Meet on Sept. 12, the Independence Invitational on Sept. 16, the COMO Invite on Sept. 29 and 30, the Tiger Invitational in Sedalia on Oct. 14, the Central Missouri Activities Conference Meet on Oct. 19 and the West Central Classic in Sedalia on Oct. 26.

“I want to start strong and just build a really strong foundation that’s appealing and highly competitive, but also a lot of fun,” Koprowski said. “And luckily, I’m starting with two districts that are really strong and have great, high levels of competitiveness and it’s just a great platform to start off with.”

This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing.