Raider swimmers set new marks
By the nature of the sport, swimmers compete not only against opposing teams, but also with themselves.
Daniel Simoes and Haihan Xu recently had memorable efforts in the latter regard.Both held Seneca Valley school records entering this season, Simoes in the 200-yard individual medley and Xu in the breaststroke.In a meet Dec. 11 at North Allegheny, they bettered their own standards. Simoes, a junior, swam the IM in 1 minute, 52.25 seconds, .51 seconds faster than his previous best time.A sophomore, Xu finished the breaststroke in 57.64, or 1.82 seconds faster than his top performance last year.Simoes placed third in the IM at districts last February, then managed a time of 1:52.76 at the state meet prior to the event being shutdown because of COVID-19. In effect, he broke the school record in consecutive meets, nine months apart.“The meet at NA was put together last-minute and it was kind of up in the air how everybody was going to do,” said Simoes. “But we were lucky enough to get in the pool in September. I liked how the coaches put together our training sessions and I felt like I was prepared.”Xu's previous record was 59.46, achieved at the WPIAL Championships while placing sixth.His effort against North Allegheny was eye-opening, even for him.
“I was ready in the moment,” said Xu. “I was going up against one of my biggest rivals (NA's Jacob McCarren) and that had something to do with it.“But when I saw my time, I was blown away!”SV coach Brian Blackwell was confident Xu would be a key contributor to the team, even entering his freshman season.“He's been really good in the breast, even in the club ranks,” said Blackwell of Xu. “His goal was to get his time (under 58 seconds) by the end of this season. Now that he's gotten that, he's aiming even lower.”“I'd like to get down to 56 high-to-mid,” Xu said. “My coaches, Coach Blackwell and (Jeff) Gavin, and all the coaches I've had through the years, I wouldn't be where I'm at if it wasn't for them.”Both Simoes and Xu also are key members of SV's relay teams. They helped the Raiders place second at WPIALs in the 200 medley relay. Simoes swam a leg of the team's 400 freestyle relay, which was runner-up as well.The Raiders hope to be back in action soon. The suspension of the high school winter sports season is scheduled to expire Monday.Simoes also swims the butterfly and Blackwell said he's seen “steady improvement in all of his events.” The former wants to keep that up and not just for individual gain.“One of our goals is to come in first (in the team standings) at the WPIAL meet,” Simoes said. “Good individual efforts will help with that.“We need a good, tight-knit group of guys to accomplish that and I'm looking forward to getting back and getting to know all the guys on the team better.”
