Up on the blocks, set feet anxiously wait for the blast of the buzzer. You dive in and swim as fast as you can and when you touch the final wall you press as hard as you can. You look up and see a new best time and reflect on all of your hard work that led up to this.

As the swim season closed, the mens and womens varsity teams finished with a record of 8-2 and 8-3, respectively. The swim teams’ regular season hard work can best be summarized by freshman swimmer Andrew Gerstenmaier: “Practice may be rough at the end of the day, but with everyone’s effort and support, success is closer than we may think.”

These admirable records followed a two-year rebuilding phase for both the mens and womens teams after they lost valuable swimmers. But, with the help of Head Coach Russ Hunt and Assistant Coach Josh Forsythe, the teams developed existing talent and looked to new talent with the Class of ‘27.

The team performed exceptionally at Sectionals as a majority of swimmers achieved new personal bests that lit up the score board. After their races, many swimmers were anxiously awaiting to see if they qualified for Districts.

“It was a fun and special way to end the year, especially getting to cheer on my teammates, along with seeing all of the team’s growth,” said Rachael Belmonte ’25.

The development of the teams talent was reflected in the number of swimmers who qualified for Districts, representing the biggest District team Walsh has seen in recent years. Made up of 9 boys and 7 girls, various members swam in 6 relays and 15 personal events. The girls team also saw sophomore Kaylee Davidson’s advance to District Diving Finals.

Kaylee said, “This year it meant so much for me to be able to compete in both the diving and swimming District Meets. I had one of my best diving meets, and I had the best time competing with my teammates in our relays.”

The boys Districts team exceeded its own expectations by placing 7^th out of 29 teams and saw the advancement of one swimmer, senior Jack Cerone, to States.

This was the first time anyone from WJ had qualified for the state meet since 2021. “To make the State meet was a dream come true for me. The atmosphere was unlike any other swim meet that I had ever been to in my life. After the constant months of hard work that our team put in, I was so happy to see everything pay off. I was so grateful to be able to share the experience alongside my great coaches and fantastic teammates,” said Jack.

Of course, most of the team made the difficult trip to Canton and the decision of missing school to support Jack swim the 100 yard breaststroke.

Coach Josh said that States was “the greatest environment at a sporting event I have experienced.” With Ohio being one of the top states in the country for swimming, the event was truly special for everyone associated with WJ swim and dive, whether that be to compete, coach, or watch.

Next year, current Head Coach Russ Hunt and Assistant Coach Josh Forsythe will be switching roles with Mr. Forsythe becoming the new Head Coach. Coach Russ, who led the team for four years, ends his WJ head coaching career on a high note.

According to Riley Cook ‘26, “With Josh stepping up as head coach in 2024, the team will hopefully have even more success than last year.”