Swimmers: take your marks, go!  This Thursday, October 9th, was a great day for the Cavalier swimming team. They represented our school at the Greater Miami Athletic Conference (GMAC) meet. The girls took home gold with first place and made Gables history, being the first team ever to have won at GMACs.

Throughout the meet, the fierce Cavaliers went out to crush other local high schools’ teams. It was a very important meet for the swim team because it was one of their last chances to prepare for districts on October 21st.

“There was a lot of support for and from the team. It was a really good meet for us, and we managed to get a few people to qualify for finals today.It was a great way to prepare for districts, and I really hope that we will be able to perform there as well,” freshman Leila Iskandarani, who swam the 100-yard freestyle and 4 by 100-yard freestyle relay, said.

The girls swim team is getting ready to make sure that it is able to hold onto its districts title, and possibly make it to states this year. The boys are trying to improve their times and start building a base for the years to come. They are also working hard to try to get a few of the relays and individual swimmers into finals at districts – and maybe even regionals.

“I hope to improve and drop my times so that I can make it to stateS.However, I know that this will require all my concentration and energy,”senior Manny Diaz, who swam the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard butterfly in the boys medley relay, said.

The Cavalier swim team is looking forward to finishing the season strong and is really starting to improve its performances. The swimmers are working hard to meet their goals this year, and have been practicing very hard for this meet and for important upcoming meets.

“The guys did very well today, and the girls performed very well too,” freshman Daniel Sanchez, who swam in the boys 200 yard freestyle relay and in the boys 400 yard relay, said. “I am hoping to improve by the time districts come around. It was still a really fun day for me.”

For the first time in Gables history, the girls managed to win the GMAC meet as a team. This is one of the biggest victories that the Gables swimming has ever achieved, and is hopefully setting a good precedent for the next few years in Gables swimming.

“Winning GMAC for the girls was a dream come true. The girl’s team is really on a high right now, and they’re ready to have a repeat district win as well.Hopefully this is the start of a tradition of great Gables swimmers. This is the best team I have seen at Gables since before I swam here as a student,” head swimming coach Kelli Fraga said.

There were also some very impressive individual performances for the Gables swim team. The top performances were Hannah Payne (200 yard medley relay, 200 yard freestyle, 200 yard free relay and 100 backstroke), Jesitt Perez (200 free, 200 medley relay, 100 butterfly and 200 free relay),  Cathryn Cordes (100 fly, 500 free and 400 free relay), Camila Perez (200 IM, 500 free and 400 freestyle relay), Hannah Banciella (50 free, 100 backstroke and 400 freestyle relay), Leila Iskandarani (100 free), Hannah Cordes (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke, 200 medley relay and 200 free relay) and John Fernandez Cuervo (100 backstroke).

“GMACs was amazing. In the end, everyone came together and the outcome was even better than expected.It really gave us an insight into what districts and regionals have in store for us,”junior Cathryn Cordes said.

With a great performance behind, them the swim team now looks ahead to prepare for districts and regionals. Hopefully, they can end the season just as strong as they started it and bring Gables some more great performances.