William Luo ’27
Nov 14, 2025
The Mercersburg Academy swim team impressed at its home invitational last weekend, logging strong results across multiple events and showing steady improvement early in the season.
Head coach Matt Hurst said, “The team performed really well. They showed enthusiasm in training, and the coaches knew that they were going to show up in this meet.” Assistant coach Steve Fowler added, “We had some surprisingly good swims, which were uncommon this early in the year. And the events that we were comparatively off were executed really well.”
The meet featured individual standouts as well as close training-partner battles that added to the excitement. “Matt Krause ’26 performed really well on the backstroke and did really well on the 200 breaststroke,” said Coach Fowler. “Teagan Mewett ’27 in her breaststroke events, too, especially at an early-November meet. Those two really stand out early in the year.”
The day’s highlights came in the final event. “Jayden Kwon ’27 and Josh Lopez ’26 basically swam in sync for the entirety of the race in the 500 freestyle, which was the last event of the meet,” said Coach Matt. “They both achieved really good times, and it showed just how strong a team we are.”
For many swimmers, the invitational was a chance to measure progress and build momentum heading into the heart of the season. “I think this meet shows how much we are improving throughout the season and how we can do in different events,” Kwon recalled.
Lopez commented that the team’s success was the product of months of demanding work. “There are definitely hard training, hard lifts, and tough days,” he said. “But it is definitely rewarding overall because when tiredness strikes, you always have your teammates around you, so it makes up for the pain.”
“There was fatigue, but the team also pushed on and finished the meet with amazing performances,” Coach Hurst noted. “This demonstrates that tiredness doesn’t always dictate the outcome of the practice or the meet, so I believe we are in a pretty good place.”
Senior Tuana Özdemir ’26 added, “I was always afraid of any events that are 200 meters or above,” she said. “I got to conquer that over the season and was more confident in the meet as I achieved great times on those events.”
The Mercersburg swim team graduated a large senior class last year, but the coaches see this season as an opportunity to rebuild depth and develop the next wave of contributors. As Hurst said, “It weakened some of our top-end events. But what we have is a building block and a good foundation. We have great depth this year, especially the younger swimmers, who have shown up for practices and had really good performances this past weekend.”
Looking forward, the coaching staff emphasized building a lasting, athlete-driven team culture. “It’s really about creating an environment where everybody is a leader of themselves,” Fowler said. “It’s not just about the seniors. We want even the younger swimmers to be part of that. That kind of culture is what we want to build upon.”