After winning a Bay Conference title a season ago, the Shawano/Bonduel high school swim team faces a year of big changes.
Sharon Hanson takes over as coach for Jim Philbrick, who held the position for two years.
Also gone is one of the strongest swimmers in the school’s history—two-time state champion Mackenzie Buss, who holds multiple pool and team records.
Hanson, who was an assistant coach the last two years with the team, said the Hawks have a chance to be more balanced than they were a year ago.
“I think we’re going to be a really good team,” Hanson said. “We have a lot of depth. A lot of times when you get new people you gain more freestylers and backstrokers — because those are easy strokes to do. We’ve got people for the butterfly and breaststroke. We’ve got everything. It should be pretty cool. It should balance us out even more.”
The team has 21 swimmers, about the same number as it had a year ago. The returnees include Clare Martell, a state qualifier in the breaststroke as a freshman last year, Malory Soper and Ali Hanson, who along with Buss and Martell qualified for state in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Hanson was also on the state-qualifying 200 medley relay team with Buss and Martell.
“We’re pretty confident that we can get a relay team back (to state),” said Sharon Hanson, who is Ali’s mother. “We have Clare, we have Ali and we have Malory, which are three strong swimmers. We have a lot of strong swimmers that can take that place — granted it’s not a Kenzie Buss — but those three are very fast. We should be able to get another relay to state, if not two.”
Martell also is working hard.
“She’s done well. She swims year-round,” Sharon Hanson said. “She’s in peak condition still. I’m excited for her. She’s got a faster time on the board than what she had at state. I’m looking for her to do well at state this year. I don’t want to jinx anything. She’ll be back, it’s just a matter of where she’ll land.”
With Buss now swimming for the University of Louisville, there are opportunities for others to take leadership roles, according to the coach.
“Sometimes when you have a superstar like that, some others go missed,” Hanson said. “When they’re not in the picture anymore, you’ll see some amazing things from other people. I think that is what is going to happen.”
If that happens, Shawano/Bonduel could find itself once again vying for a title Oct. 31 at the Bay Conference meet, which will be held at the Shawano pool for the first time.
“That’s a pretty big deal for us,” Hanson said. “Last year we lost that by one point, but we still won the conference because we had won everything else.”
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