When you picture a pool of water, you wouldn’t think of it being a link to brotherhood.

For the boys swim team, that’s exactly what it has become.

Through every practice and every meet, the diverse personalities on the team come together to form an unbreakable bond.

“I don’t play every sport but I’d be willing to bet the swim team is a lot closer than any other team at H-F,” junior Jack Knetl said. “We spend over a hundred hours together, we’re with each other six days a week. The team is basically a bunch of weirdos brought together that become best friends.”

H-F has a number of different sports that compete at a high level.

In addition to the team chemistry, another thing that differentiates the swim team from other teams is the sport’s intensity.

“I believe swimming is the hardest sport to participate in,” senior captain Lucas Santefort said. “That’s why we’re such a small team. It requires so much more out of the individual than any other sport.”

Head coach Keith Dombkowski backs Santefort’s comments.

“I look for people that are willing to put in the effort day in and day out,” Dombkowski said. “Those are the people that’ll be most consistent at the end of the year. Swimming is one of those sports where the harder you work, the bigger the payoff will be at the end.”

Improving your craft is a key to making a big splash in the sport.

Senior captain Johnny Schmidt makes sure that he impacts the next generation of H-F swimming.

“Our senior class is a lot smaller than past years,” Schmidt said. “We really want to work these younger guys and get them in shape so they can work well in state for the next couple of years.”

According to Knetl, those details should be minor ones.

“As we come closer to Sectionals, it’s important that everyone takes the time and works on the little things like watching what we eat, keeping up on our school work and pushing ourselves in practice,” Knetl said. “We worked hard all season and I’m hoping we can go top five at Sectionals this year.”

Although swimming is not one of the most popular high school sports, that shouldn’t be an excuse for the student body to favor other sports.

“We don’t get support from the school other than VTV announcing our results from the meets,” Santefort said.

Dombkowski said that a winning culture will draw more eyes on the team.

“The last couple of years, we’ve been down a little bit but obviously if you’re winning and being successful, you’re going to get more notoriety,” Dombkowski said.

Thinking about the end of the season is always tough, but for seniors like Schmidt, it’s the end of a high school career.

“I want to leave it all here,” Schmidt said. “I probably won’t have the ability to swim in college so with everything I’ve got, I have to do it now.”