The cheering grows louder as Forrest Frazier ‘20 hits the wall on the last leg of the 400 free relay. The City High relay of Bryce Edens ‘22, Caleb Coons ‘22, Isaac Weigel ‘21, and Frazier won the last event with a time of 3:17.15.

“I put Weigel in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke, because that’s not what Linn-Mar is expecting,” head coach Zane Hugo explained his strategy. “Then I put Bryce [Edens] in the 200 and the 500 freestyle to get some good racing in for him.”

The plan almost worked, and while Linn-Mar stacked their IM race, expecting Weigel to appear in the 200 free, he raced ahead to touch first in the individual medley.

“It was great racing Nick Cavanaugh [from Linn Mar] again,” Weigel said. “He’s a good guy and I’m glad he gave me solid competition.”

While City and Linn-Mar were tied 31-31 at the 50 freestyle, Linn-Mar managed to pull ahead by the end, with a final score of 83-87. There is only one more dual meet left this season and as the season draws to a close, seniors are preparing to leave the team to the next group of swimmers.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for the upperclassmen this year to help out the younger freshmen because we do have a large freshman base this year,” Joe Schuessler ‘20 said. “It’s really our responsibility to help out and teach them and carry on traditions as well as create new ones.”

City High’s senior night is next Tuesday against the combined team of West and Liberty, and the team is getting ready to say goodbye to their leaders. 

“It’s crazy, but it is nice being in the final stretch and I’m glad I’m able to give it my all one last time and finish high school up strong,” Schuessler said. “It’s been great encouraging my other teammates to go out there and race the guy next to them.”