Four years ago, the Fountain Hills High School swim team swam for the first time. Now that season four is in the books, it’s clear to see how much the upperclassmen have built a strong swimming culture since the team was formed.

According to head coach Patti Schultz, seniors Grace Clark, Josef Johnson and Ender Trevena swam for the team every year it has existed. A few other seniors, like Vinnie Caggiula, took the COVID year off, but they still left a mark and legacy at Fountain Hills high school.

The Falcons started the season with five seniors, but Caggiula joined late and was the sixth senior to swim this year. According to Schultz, Caggiula was busy with five AP classes and a part-time job, but his teammates asked him to come back. Next thing the Falcons knew, Caggiula was swimming at 5:30 a.m. with the rest of them.

“They’re very supportive, and that comes from the kids and their leadership,” Schultz said. “It’s about the internal culture you create. It’s always about the culture.”

The swim team is a tightknit group, and they use word of mouth advertising to grow their team. Each year, the swimmers have a booth at the school orientation, which is how Space Kingphakorn joined the team this year. Schultz also said that JP Cahill was recruited by his friend Gunnar Wise to join the team.

Just those two additions helped the team to be better than ever and break school records. In September, Cahill, Kingphakorn, Wise and Trevena set a new school record in the 400 free relay (4:19.69). The Falcons beat that record two more times over the course of the season, with Johnson, Raith Trevena, Brendan Davies and Wise setting another new school record for the 400 relay on Oct. 16 (4:08.82).

“When you’re part of a group like that, the motivation comes easier,” Schultz said. “You know people care for you, and you want to do better for them, not only for you.”

The Falcons set five other school records this season. Wise set records in the 200 IM (2:16.84) and 100 breaststroke (1:05.42). Clark set a record in 100 butterfly (1:11.99) and Davies set a record in 100 backstroke (1:17.95).

Wise and Clarke also represented Fountain Hills as individual competitors at state. Schultz said Wise has “improved like crazy,” since he was a freshman. Wise had never swum competitively before then, but now the junior swims year-round and is one of the fastest Falcons.

Clarke has been an anchor for the team over her four years. Technically, she did not swim at state as a junior because a COVID quarantine derailed that possibility last year. Still, Clarke swam at state her other three years, and she had state qualifying times as a junior.

Schultz saw all six of her seniors demonstrate leadership and camaraderie with the rest of the swim team. Whether they helped a freshman work on a stroke or invited people to hang out through their team group chat, the seniors took ownership of their team.

Schultz said her juniors and underclassmen are ready to step up to the task next year. She said that the team mottos, “Start strong, finish strong, Falcon strong,” and “Be present, be prompt and be prepared,” helped to instill life skills into her team this year.

Next May, the offseason practices start up again. Schultz will invite middle school students to join the workouts in hopes to recruit and grow the swimming culture in Fountain Hills. The Falcons hope to start strong again when the races begin in August.