Jimmy Van Wickler is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Arcadia High School for AZPreps365.com

Arcadia swim season has come to an end with the AIA Division II championship concluding Saturday, Nov. 9.

The culmination of the season has been a lot of fight and fun that all starts from the top with head coach Ana Kilibarda and the senior class. Kilibarda is a relatively new coach for the Titans after just finishing her second year with the team. What made this transition so easy for her has been the seniors this season. 

The Titans have a total of 15 seniors on the swim team roster and all of them have really helped Kilibarda set the standard and the culture for this team. These seniors being able to get bought in and do their part to help this team succeed has stood out for her and the younger swimmers in the program. 

“Team culture has always been pretty good,” said senior Aidan McClure. “I have done my part to kind of work with that positive battery.”

All the seniors play a huge part in why this Titans culture is the way that it is. Four of the seniors are captains of the team and most of the seniors on the team have also swam for club teams like Swim Neptune and the Phoenix Swim Club. 

The seniors throughout the final week of the season really impressed Kilibarda with their focus and determination to finish strong and the younger swimmers followed them.

Some seniors that stood out in the championship were Ryan Mallander, who finished in the top 10 in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke, and McClure, who finished in the top 10 in the 500-yard freestyle. 

“Season was super fun this year, I think especially the seniors, they kicked it up a notch yesterday in prelims and then today in finals,” said Kilibarda. “It's been kind of shocking every single time they finish an event in a very good way.” 

The successful results in the pool is not the only thing the seniors bring to the team. What they do for the cultures also shows. The captains on the team have been implementing the culture for this team which is trying to get everyone to speak and talk to their teammates. They want to have their younger swimmers feel like how they felt when they were freshman.  

“What I’ve been trying to do here as swim captain is honestly create an atmosphere,” said senior Tristyn Abbott. “I’ve been trying to get as many people to talk with each other as possible just to create the same sense of community that I felt.” 

The confidence in this swim program is high with the coach and their swimmers. Even though a good chunk of Titans swimmers are graduating it doesn’t waiver how they feel about the future of their team.

The senior class and the coach feel confident that what they did for this program and the culture of this team will hold for years to come as juniors from this year will take over those roles in the next season.