Fast Freshmen: Underclassmen contribute to team success

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Freshman Omar Fathallah cheers on his team at a home meet poolside.

David Bernauer, Staff Reporter
February 20, 2019

Freshman Perspective: Life on varsity swim

As one of five freshmen to make the team, Omar Fathallah competes with the boys varsity swim team. As the team looks to make it past sectionals and into state for the first time, Fathallah is ready to swim towards victory.

When did you first start swimming?

I first started swimming when I was five years old at the YMCA in Vernon Hills with swim lessons. At around 7 or 8, I started doing competitive swimming mainly in Illinois. Then a few years later the YMCA became the Vernon Hills Park District, and our team became a USA swimming team, which allowed me to compete with teams from other neighboring states. When I was 11 years old, I joined the Mundelein Mustangs Swim Club and have been swimming at the MHS pool ever since.

 What work and preparation went in to making the varsity team as a freshman?

Club is a year-round sport, so all I did was do club swimming, which meant practicing about eight times a week in the summer and about 6 times a week in the fall.

What does a typical practice look like for varsity?

Our practices go in four-week cycles, and the intensity of every workout depends on what the coach wants to focus on that week. We have a different type of practice depending on the day of the week. For example, on a Monday it’s a distance practice day, so we do more yardage in total and do more yard in a set, such as 3×200 yards instead of 4×50 yards.

In what areas can you improve as a swimmer?

Personally, I’m not a fan of kicking, which is not good for me because that’s half of what you need to do to be a good swimmer, so I pretty much rely on my arm strength. I also don’t do dolphin kicks, which are the kicks underwater that you do after you push off a wall. So to improve as a swimmer, I should definitely work on my kicking and dolphin kicks.

How does Coach Sethna help you improve in that area?

Coach Sethna gives me feedback about my lack of kicking. Also, at practice, there are consequences when I don’t kick as I should. For example, for every time he doesn’t see me do a dolphin kick off a wall, he will add 100 yards to the next practice, so if I don’t do one dolphin kick off of every wall for just a 100, that’s already 400 yards added to the next practice.

 How do you set a standard for the rest of the team even though you’re only a freshman?

I don’t think of myself as trying to set a standard for the rest of the team. I just work hard, strive to foster positive team spirit and to support the team the best I can.

For years, the boys swim team has had success both as a team and with individual competitors making it as far as sectionals. With the addition of some fast freshmen, the team looked to make it further than sectionals this year.

“The goal is to win sectionals. We have been second a number of times but have never gotten over that hump,” said Rahul Sethna, boys varsity swim team coach. “If we could do that, that would be the first time in school history.”

As the team looked to make history, they turned to some new, young additions to the team. This year, the varsity team featured four sophomores and, most notably, five freshmen.

“They are very versatile teammates and very fast to boot,” said senior Ben Ford, a member of the team the last two years.

The coach also recognized the impact the younger team members had on the team this season.

“We have a good blend of upperclassmen and underclassmen, so we are a young team,” Sethna said. “The freshmen have come in like the sophomores did last year– adding some depth and top-end speed to our lineup.”

Although less experienced than the upperclassmen on the team, the freshmen have made an impact in meets this year.

At the December Lake County Invite where MHS took third, freshman Omar Fathallah placed second in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.16.

“For me it was a big goal to make the varsity team as a freshman because all the older kids were pumping me up about how fun varsity swimming for the high school is,” Fathallah said. “They also talked about how we could possibly make it to state this year, and I wanted to try my best to help them make it there in any way I [could].”

At the same December meet, Fathallah and freshman Aaron Anastos, along with seniors Hunter Magee and Ryan Zentz, placed second with a time of 3:30.84 in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

“We have a bunch of new freshmen making an impact. We’ve been deep in recent years and are trying to move up,” Coach Sethna said. “For the most part, [the freshmen] are guys we count on to help score points in meets and invites, and to date, they have helped make our team better in that regard.”

With help from the freshmen, the swim team was able to place second at the Conant Invite in January and showed off their speed with nearly half the team accomplishing season-best times, according to the team’s Twitter page.

“By being some of the fastest on the team, they’ve become ones to beat and to rely on,” Ford said. “Their speed and skill in the sport [have been impressive].”

The freshmen have proven their worth as the season has progressed, becoming reliable members of the team who swim with the skill of many of the upperclassmen while still being young enough to learn new skills and improve upon where they are at.

“I think for me being a freshman on the team shows people that freshmen aren’t some newbies that don’t really know what they’re doing,” Fathallah said. “I also think that me being a freshman on varsity along with other freshmen shows you don’t have to be older to bring talent and good work ethic to the team.”