On Jan. 22, the Wildcats of West Chicago Community High School hosted a dual meet against the Bartlett Hawks at the Dan Johnson Memorial Pool.

Made up of swimmers from Batavia, West Chicago, and Geneva, the boys fell short against their cross-town rivals, but continued to motivate one another to swim their best strokes.

“During my 500 I see everyone on the lines. Most people are just cheering for me,” freshman Sam Becker said. “It’s encouraging.”

Even with some minor tweaks in his form, Geneva High School sophomore Nate Walkington posted strong performances.

“I was doing a little change of pace. I tried out a little backstroke at this meet,” Walkington said. “And I think that the backstroke overall, like doing this for backstroke, will help me out my 200IM a lot.”

The 200IM is an individual medley event, which means that one swimmer completes a series of four different strokes.

“I was just going in with the mindset that I wanted to have just like, race strategy and follow that, like, keep a fast tempo, fast kick, strong underwater, because I think just sticking to that will help me more,” Walkington said.

Walkington also emphasized how the team supports one another, no matter how big or small the meet is. They keep each other motivated, hold each other accountable, and even when they’re underwater, continue to be cheered on.

“Nobody wasn’t getting cheered for. There were always at least, like three or four people on the side cheering for them,” Walkington said. “It was really a great thing to see.”