At the recent Pasadena Invitational the Mesa Olympians swim team placed fifth out of 12, “we did well (considering), we only competed one out of the two day competition and in some of our off events,” said head coach Nathan Resch.
The invitational was just a warm up for the upcoming all important state competitions.
“Overall this season we have done well. We have had great leadership this year.” The true leaders from this year’s swim team have been sophomore Chris Quiroz, sophomore Justin Brown and freshman Laszlo Perlaky.
Quiroz was an All-American two years, competes in the Butterfly and Sprint Freestyle, while currently ranking in the Top 3 in the state at the Butterfly event. Quiroz has followed up his past success this year as well, as he was named Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Athlete of the Week on February 13. Quiroz won all four of the events he competed in against Southwestern (100 and 200 yard freestyle, 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams), not to mention he was academic All-PCAC academic in water polo.
Quiroz has also sacrificed possible recognition of his own according to Resch. “Chris has (taken one for the team), as he has competed in the Backstroke in the relays despite him a great sprint freestylist,” said Resch. “We don’t have a true Backstroke guy so Chris (does his best) for us in relays that need one.”
Sophomore Justin Brown competes in the Distance Freestyle. “Justin inspires (all of us) with his work ethic, in and out of the water.”
Along the two sophomores is the freshman Laszlo Perlaky. The first year player shows some real talent while competing in the Freestyle and Butterfly. “Perlaky is 1st in state at the 200m Butterfly and 3rd in state at the 500m Freestyle,” said Resch. Perlaky placed second in the 500m Freestyle at Pasadena (4 minutes and 48.01 seconds).
Don’t be fooled into thinking that the team has just these three young bright spots. According to Resch there are three others who have stood out to him this season: freshmen Joshua Fulks and Justin Webb, and sophomore Andrew Valley.
Despite the rough outing at Pasadena, the event has set the team up good for the conference championships. The team just needs to rest and get ready as the past meets have prepared them for the upcoming conference and state competitions.