The Fountain Hills High School Swim program faced some big competition this past week but head coach Patti Schultz said she is happy with the progress she is seeing in her team.

Last week the Falcons competed against Horizon Honors and Sandra Day O’Connor where the local squad finished last out of the three schools.

This week FHHS swim traveled back to Horizon Honors on Sept. 24 to compete against the host team and Mountain Pointe.

Schultz said she knew going into last week’s meet that Fountain Hills’ athletes would be facing off against some advanced swim programs.

“Both teams have programs that have a long history of swimming and feed into the programs through club swim programs,” Schultz said. “Also, Roadrunner Pool is a 25 short course meter pool, which is slightly longer than a short course yard pool.”

Schultz said her swimmers started off slow but, once they made the proper conversions, the pieces started to fall into place, giving Schultz a better gauge of her team.

“Our relays did very well at this meet, with new swimmers being put on the team so that I can see who works best together and are able to compete at the Pitchfork Invitational at ASU on Oct. 5,” Schultz said.

Individually, Schultz pointed to swimmer Connor Reiff, who finished the 100 freestyle in first place.

Along with seeing her team’s swimming improve, Schultz is also happy to see the aquatic Falcons represent FHHS so well.

“The swimmers are really enjoying competing against other squads and are being exposed to good sportsmanship,” Schultz said. “After many races I am seeing Falcon swimmers and others congratulate each other after a close race or realizing that someone posted a personal record.”

Now Schultz’s goal is to make sure her team has the more complex swimming techniques down so they are ready for the big meet at ASU on Oct. 5.