Swimming Preview: Burroughs’ Wilson looks for sophomore splash
Jacob Cook hasn’t had much time to devote solely to his swim teams at Burroughs High.
The coach just joined his swimmers full time after guiding the Indians girls’ water polo team to the CIF Southern Section Division VI quarterfinals on Saturday.
“It has been a quick turnaround for sure,” Cook said. “But we’re ready to go.”
Burbank has a new coach in Cody Parker, who hopes to elevate the Bulldogs’ program.
BURROUGHS
The Indians will look to rely on a core group to hopefully make them successful.
“We have had a pretty good turnout, not a really big team but we have some talent,” Cook said. “But really we should have one standout on the boys’ side and one standout on the girls’ side.”
That girls’ swimmer is sophomore Maya Wilson, who is looking to build on a wildly successful freshman campaign.
A season ago, Wilson, who trains with the Rose Bowl Aquatics National team, established new Burroughs records in the 50-yard freestyle (25.00 seconds), the 100 freestyle (52.89), the 200 freestyle (1:51.93), the 500 freestyle (5:04.66) and the 100 butterfly (1:00.32). She also won Pacific League titles in the 200 and 500 and took part in the 2017 CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships at Clovis High.
“She has been doing her usual training and getting better all the time,” Cook said. “She is still improving, so it will be interesting to see what she is going to be able to do this season.
“She is a year older with a year’s more experience, so that should help her.”
On the boys’ side, Cook expects the team to be led by junior Reigh Abaoag, who will swim in the butterfly and breaststroke events.
“He could possibly break a record, as well,” Cook said.
BURBANK
Parker said the transition of taking over the Bulldogs programs has gone smoothly.
“The team seems to be embracing me as well as my assistant coach and what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “My assistant and I are trying to change the culture here a bit and just get more focused on getting to practice every day, working hard and thinking what we’re doing in the pool instead of just mindlessly swimming.
“They seem to be really open to more challenging workouts and us expecting more out of them. We have some swimmers who have experience on the club level and others who are joining us on the team for the first time.”
On the boys’ side, Parker said he expects big contributions from junior Dorian Andrei in the butterfly, individual medley and sprint freestyle events, sophomore Ryan Feldman in the IM, breaststroke and backstroke, sophomore David Lee in the freestyle events and senior Isaac Yang in the freestyle and breaststroke events.
For the Burbank girls’ squad, athletes who will be relied on will be junior Michelle Morlock in the freestyle events, junior Emily Udall in the freestyle and butterfly and senior Angelica Perez in the freestyle sprint races.
“I think we have a good group and we’re looking to have a good season,” Parker said. “We have a solid boys’ team and we have some swimmers who are vying for spots on the relays, so it is pretty competitive when it comes to those spots.”
Twitter: @jefftsports
