It’s five o’clock on a January morning, and most of us are trying to cram in our last hours of sleep before school starts. But the swim and dive team is submerged in water, training for the upcoming meets. Some would ask: why would anyone want to get up even earlier than we have to?

Some team members cite the coach as the reason for rising early.

“[Coach Jamie Grimes] is really supportive and he always pushes you to achieve your best and get through the hardest practices,” said junior Elizabeth Pepper.

With a record of 2-2 for the boys and 1-3 for the girls for the season, the team placed third in Counties. WJ prevailed over rival Churchill at Counties.

After Counties, they went to Metros, which is the swimming and diving version of a state competition. The boys earned a sixth place finish and the girls placed tenth out in the competition, which was a meeting of Washington Metropolitan Area Schools.

Every season can’t go perfect; there are obviously some things that Grimes would change.

“I would make sure to tell people to eat properly before races,” he said. “There were just a few things that we could fix.”

The season was a short due to all the canceled meets, but according to Grimes, the whole season went well.

“[Sophomore] Annie Kastler broke the county record for diving,” said Grimes. “Pepper broke three team records and [senior] Greg Karel broke three team records as well.”

“Other teams aren’t as spirited as us,” said Grimes. “We are a close group of kids.”

Overall, the WJ team is one of WJ’s most successful teams and definitely one of the most committed teams.

“You can’t really describe our team in one word,” said Grimes.