Jen Hosey
(1/17) After several students and
teachers voiced interest in beginning a swim
team at Catoctin High School, the idea was
discussed and approved by the Frederick County
Board of Education, and the team took to the
water on November 15, 2007.
Coaches Rebecca Reinhard and Jen Hosey,
both teachers at CHS, were initially skeptical
that they would have enough of a turn out to
have a solid team. They were pleasantly
surprised when 25 students came to the first
day of practice. After the first weeks of
practice, the team has settled into their
season with a total of 18 swimmers: 5 boys and
13 girls. The Cougars practice at the
Walkersville High School pool five days a week
and call it their home pool when hosting
meets.
The new swim team started their season off
with a tri-meet against Brunswick and
Middletown High Schools and walked away with
one first-place, two second-place, three
third-place, and four fourth-place finishes in
their races. Although they did not win the
meet in point standings, it was an impressive
and confidence-building start for a first-year
team.
In their second meet, they swam against
Frederick and showed further improvement
claiming three first-place finishes in two
individual races and a relay.
Considering only five of their swimmers had
previous experience with competitive swimming,
the team has done well in their first two
meets. Hosey boasted about her swimmers,
“Right now we are concentrating on beating our
own times each meet, but we couldn’t be
prouder of all the progress our swimmers are
making each and every practice. We are so
excited to see what the rest of the season
holds for our team.”
With a young team and continuing exposure
to the community, the coaches and the athletic
department anticipate that this year will be
the start of a growing swim program at CHS and
hope for even larger numbers next season.
