This year, the LOHS swim teams brought successful awards in the 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke and boys 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Senior Annemarie Vlaic brought home the state championship medal in both the 100 fly and 500 freestyle, making her a two-time winner in both of those events. Vlaic was also awarded All-American in the 100 butterfly, All-American consideration for the 500 freestyle and Moda athlete swimmer of the week. Although high school swim is done for her, Vlaic will be continuing her swimming career as a D1 college athlete at Southern Methodist University. “I’ll definitely miss swimming with my high school teammates and representing our school, but I’m excited for this new chapter in my life,” said Vlaic.
Sophomore Yahan Zhang and junior Alex Epifanov also attended the state meet as individuals in the 100 breast and 200 individual medley for Zhang and the 100 back for Epifanov. Epifanov also participated in team relays like the 200 medley relay with sophomores Jacob Kim and Yifan Qiu, as well as junior Sully Kirtz. Epifanov raced in yet another relay which was the 400 freestyle with sophomores Kieran Lussier, Owen Beaumont and Kim. Epifanov placed sixth in the 200 individual medley relay, third in the hundred backstroke and third in the 200 medley relay.
After the meet, Zhang was content with the result, and thanked the endless support she received. “I was proud of myself when I got to go up to the podium. I really appreciate all of my coaches who helped me, and I really appreciate the parents, volunteers and my teammates who supported me very much,” said Zhang. Zhang had goals to “improve for next year … and to try to win the 100 breaststroke.” Zhang believes that the team next year will “be strong. [She’s] looking forward to seeing new people on the team.”
As for Epifanov, he hopes to “win the relays and score more points and have more guys at state” for his next year goals. According to Epifanov, “Most of our team is staying on the guys’ side. We don’t have a single senior, so I’m pretty excited for how next year will be.” He was also happy with the improvement from last year and the year before that, as Epifanov had been swimming at the state meet since his freshman year. “I think it was definitely better than last season. I was going faster than all of my times last season,” said Epifanov.
Before going into the meet, Vlaic was “excited. [She] knew [she] was going to have some good competition in the 500 fly and the 100 free, and [she] ended up winning both of those.” As mentioned previously, Vlaic is a two-time winner in both of those events, but “this year felt extra special because it’s [her] last season on high school swim. [They] had new coaches this year, and [she] feel[s] like they did a really good job with the whole team and making sure everything was organized.” As a senior, Vlaic was still looking toward the future for the LO team. “I’m really excited to see how the team does next year too. You can see a progression throughout the four years … I started off as second in the fly and third in the 500 free, but you kind of get to grow the ranks which is exciting. I think that Alex and Yahan will have the potential to win state next year … and carry on the first place LO legacy.”
Overall, Vlaic said the season “ended up shaping up to be a good one .. [She’s] really happy with it, especially since it was [her] last season before [she] go[es] to college.”
