With the swim season just underway, there is a new policy in town. For the first time ever, Monte Vista swim has introduced cuts for the Junior Varsity swimmers.

    The reason for the cut policy is the large number of absences and the overcrowded practices last season. The goal of the policy is to make Monte Vista swim more competitive and more serious. The cut policy will be based on an individual’s time relative to other swimmer’s times.

    “I think the new cut policy is good because last year practice was a complete mess,” Sophomore swimmer Shannon David said. “Some people didn’t try and goofed off during practice.”

    David goes on to state that the swim team would be more successful if it had members who deserved to be there.

    “Cuts encourage people to try harder and to compete more,” David said. “It would make a better environment for the whole team. With more attention from coaches, we could have harder practices that make us better. When coaches spend more one on one time with us we will do better in meets and win more. I want to get better as a swimmer.”

    “I think that the new policy is great because it brings a more competitive environment to the team,” Sophomore swimmer Robert Mitu said. “JV swim has a lot of fast swimmers, so to put cuts on it allows the coaches to really focus their time on athletes more passionate about the sport.”

    Varsity swim won’t be affected much by the new cuts policy, unlike JV in which only the fastest swimmers will be members of the team. “The cut policy will allow the coaches to spend more time with athletes that truly want to be at practice and train to get better” Mitu said.

    Although having a much smaller team this year, the mighty mustang swimmers hope that this new cuts policy will lead to more victories and better times as the season progresses.

    However, there are some downsides to the new cuts policy. “Although I’m relatively happy with the new cut policy, I feel bad for people who get cut but are trying to get their PE credit through swimming,” David said. “But in the end, the goal is to get more victories as a team.”