First And Senior Year in The Pool With Evan Bryant

SEATTLE: Senior Evan Bryant is a member of the O’Dea Fighting Irish swimming team for the first time since he arrived in Seattle from Utah in September of 2021. Bryant is one of four seniors, a small but strong group who’s been together for a while. The team has been off to a rough start with two losses to the Bishop Blanchet Bears and the Lakeside Lions, however, the team did bounce back on December 16th against the Garfield Bulldogs with a win. The Irish throughout the duration of the preseason and for the first two matches were missing key pieces like senior Jake Chafee, and junior Jack Skarda, a huge reason for the results of the first two matches. Bryant spoke with me and his thoughts about the team’s performance and expectations going forward,

“We’ve been missing a lot of our guys, especially in the first two matches, going forward when we have all of our guys we will be much better,”

With many leaders who have lots of experience being away, it makes sense why the Irish have gotten off to a cold start in their first two matches, the Irish are destined to bounce back in future matches and events, and they certainly showed that against Garfield. Bryant talked with me about his performance in the first few matches and how he can improve,

Bryant said, “I’ve improved in my 100 and 50 free by 15 and 11 seconds which is great, I just need to keep working on my craft in practice to help the team win,”

Bryant has clearly made big strides by reducing his times so significantly throughout the first part of the season, he certainly is determined to make the Irish a better team and get them back to a .500 record and beyond. Bryant clearly has the work ethic as well; this is a guy who had never even swam at a competitive level before this season and is making huge strides not just for his benefit but for his team’s benefit. I spoke with Bryant about what it’s been like to start swimming your senior year and his approach to getting himself and the whole team better,

Bryant said, “At first it was hard, but I’ve learned new techniques and I’ve adjusted to new ways to improve my game, I know that everyone on the team must adjust to get better and as a senior I have to encourage underclassmen to keep giving their best effort to improve,”

Adjustments seemed to be a struggle throughout the early part of the season for Bryant, but he is showing that he now understands what it takes to reach a high level of success in the pool. As a senior, he’s expected to lead even though he might have less experience than others he’s still expected to play that senior leadership role. To conclude I asked Bryant about his expectations for the rest of the season,

Bryant said, “We’ve played some tough opponents already especially Lakeside, going forward I think we will gain momentum going into the playoffs and contend for a league and state championship,”

Clearly, Bryant and the Irish have big goals and are looking to achieve them after a rocky start, the next event for the Irish is the Kentridge Invitational which is Saturday, January 7, and the next Metro League matchup is Friday, January 13, against the Roosevelt Roughriders.