With big goals and optimistic attitudes, members of the West Jordan High School swimming team are excited for the 2024–25 season. 

The boys and girls teams are in the pool, gearing up to compete against other Region 4 and Class 5A teams. The Jaguars are working hard to qualify some swimmers for state and have a presence at that big end-of-the-season meet. 

“My outlook for the team is positive,” head coach Sara Mitchell said. “I have several committed swimmers who have built a supportive community, returned with goals for the season and brought more friends to the team. Our team has set some lofty goals: to qualify two boys' relays and one girls' relay to the state championship meet and to qualify more individual swimmers than we have in the past. Our max in the last five years was three swimmers—two boys and one girl. I expect that our focus on rewarding positive effort rather than harping on shortcomings will be effective.”

Some team members are new to the sport, so Mitchell is hoping these athletes can learn quickly and find events that fit their style and abilities. She also is looking for more consistency and for swimmers to try new things. 

“For this season to be a success, the newest swimmers need to find their niche,” she said. “Every swimmer has events that fit their personality and their physique. It takes trial and error and a willingness to take risks to find their flow. Most importantly, every swimmer needs to give consistent effort and get out of their comfort zone. We need more depth in each event, so the new swimmers need to be able to contribute in more than the 50 and 100 free. Over the last couple of seasons, we've seen more wins in our meets. As fun as that is, any meet is a success if the swimmers give their absolute best in each race.”

The Jaguars might not be a threat in the race for the state title, but the swimmers still have good attitudes and a good outlook. Mitchell loves the effort she has seen from the athletes and that some are even actively trying to get friends and peers to join the team. Most swimmers who come out for the team stick with it and enjoy the competition of events and the camaraderie of the team. 

“They are positive,” Mitchell said. “Most of my swimmers also compete in other sports during the fall and spring. Some of them recruit their friends to our team based on the uplifting and friendly environment we have on the swim team. We have a good base of experienced swimmers returning; other than our graduating seniors, we retain over 90% of our team the following season and add about one-third to one-half of the team with recruits. We are retaining our size; we have more than 35 active swimmers. We have more girls on the team this year than we've ever had before, and although half of them are brand-new, I'm seeing exciting potential as they practice.”

Mitchell likes what she has seen from junior captain Luke Mitchell, whom she describes as a “go-getter.” His top events are the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle. 

“[Luke Mitchell] is fiercely competitive and a good mentor to younger swimmers,” she said. “He is a strong swimmer and is top three on our team in nearly every event. He is focused on qualifying for state.”

Yeshoua Negrete, Seth Bottomly and Diego Munoz are also ones to watch on the boys team. The top swimmer on the girls’ side is Jaycee Garcia. The senior is a two-time captain.

“[Garcia] has a great attitude and work ethic,” Mitchell said. “She's very versatile and coachable.”

Mitchell is also pleased with several other swimmers and the leadership and hard work they show. She highlighted junior Cali Mitchell, junior Porter Lamb, junior Jesson Sandstrom, junior Brooklyn Cannon, junior Garett Draper, freshman Kassidy Grange and sophomore Jackson Harbaugh. Grange and Harbaugh are newcomers to the team. She said all of these swimmers contribute to the team’s success. 

“All strengthen our team with their leadership and mentoring,” Mitchell said. 

West Jordan faces challenges that many other squads don’t have to contend with. 

The Jaguars don’t have a pool at the school, so finding adequate space and time in the pool is difficult. There are also financial challenges and some swimmers dealing with injuries. 

“Every season, these athletes have to overcome so much,” Mitchell said. “One of our biggest challenges this year is pool space. Our team is the same size as the last two years (over 35 swimmers), but we were allocated one less lane at every practice to make more space for senior citizens. With our attendance improving, we're fitting nine to 12 swimmers in a lane at practice. My assistant coach, Kristina Copp, and I are getting very creative with our workout sets to keep the swimmers active and making progress in the limited space. We always have challenges with finances; we reduced the amount of team apparel we purchase so that more athletes could afford to join the team. We have half as much training equipment as we need. We borrow, share or rent most of what we need to run our meets. We have several swimmers working through injuries, which makes it hard to build momentum. Thankfully, most of them are willing to communicate with me, so we can find ways to keep them training while they recover.”

In spite of the difficulties the team faces, Mitchell loves her job and speaks highly of the swimmers. She enjoys seeing them do their best, achieve personal records and accomplish goals. 

“I feel positively gleeful when I see these athletes break through pre-conceived barriers, when they set a goal that motivates them, when they achieve goals they thought were out of reach and they start to build confidence, when they find the stroke or distance that they like best, when they get their first [personal record], when I see them working well together as a team,” she said. “I look at a pool full of swimmers trying their best, and I think, ‘this is my happy place.’”