For the second time this year, U. City and Brentwood are merging sports teams. This fall, the field hockey team combined with Brentwood, and the move is being done again with the girls swim team.

In her first year at U. City, Darielle Morris is the new coach of the team, bringing three years of coaching experience with her. At first, Morris was hesitant to take the coaching job because it is her first year in the building, but quickly realized the job was right for her.    

“Once the job was posted, I knew I had to jump on the opportunity to work with some amazing swimmers,” Morris said.

Morris was keen to merge with Brentwood, since she came from a school with very few swimmers on the team. 

“When I walked in day one, the initial interest and talent was impressive,” Morris said. “Once girls were finally able to get in the water, it was like they never missed a beat during the off-season.”

The team is up to 17 swimmers, which is seven more than they had last year. Seven of the 13 U. City girls are new to the team this year. The team accepted anyone who was interested, even those who do not know how to swim. As a result, the team features junior Taiyanna Clark, who has no prior experience swimming.

“I was a little nervous, but I know the girls are nice and they made me feel a lot better,” Clark said.

Freshman Gayle Stevenson, like Clark, did not know how to swim either.

“The hardship is getting scared out of nowhere,” Stevenson said. “Sometimes I’m almost in the deep end and all of a sudden, my mind thinks ‘what if I drown?’ I start thinking [this], but it is just myself being scared.”

Stevenson wasn’t the only one who was nervous to swim as a freshman. Chole Easter, senior, joined the team in sophomore year, and had to quickly learn how to swim.

“I was a professional drowner and I could not swim at all,” Easter said, reflecting on the early days of her first season. 

Coach Morris has high expectations for this year’s squad, and she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to bring out the best of the team.  

“These girls have a lot of potential that I would like to tap into,” Morris said. “It is going to take hard work, dedication and 150% each and every day.” 

While the season will certainly brings its own challenges, Morris knows her girls are ready for it. 

“I know they can do it, and I look forward to seeing their results.”