Redmond High swimmers call it a “brotherhood,” a special bond that exists in and out of the pool.
The Mustangs are friends and teammates who support each other during practices and meets. Their familial-like ties also come alive at team meals (loads of pasta), on bus rides (Taylor Swift sing-a-longs) and wherever else the swimmers roam.
They’re a talented and positive bunch, said coach Julie Barashkoff.
“Oh, it’s amazing. It makes my day,” the coach added about entering Redmond Pool after completing her physical-education teaching duties for the day at Redmond High. “I could have a rough day at school and come over here and it changes my whole attitude — I love ‘em to death, I wouldn’t trade any of them. Their sportsmanship is above and beyond any team I’ve ever seen — and that’s not me, that’s them.”
Redmond is 6-1 in league and notched recent wins over Skyline and Inglemoor. On Tuesday, rival Eastlake (7-0) defeated Redmond, 97-89, in an energetic meet at Redmond Pool.
On the 4A state front, four Mustangs have qualified for the big event set for Feb. 20-21 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. They are Ivan Graham in the 100-yard backstroke (56.93), 500-yard freestyle (4:58.73) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.07); Xavier Graham in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.08); and the brothers are joined by Samuel Jonsson and Jack Markling in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:24.94).
The youngest of the foursome, Ivan, is a freshman who has been swimming on a year-round team since age 9: “That’s really helped me (along with) the environment — the cheering and friends.”
His older brother Xavier, a senior captain, will head to state for the fourth straight year and hopes to finally make it into championship finals. Last year, he was part of three relays and swam in the 100 breast (10th-place finisher), and the previous two years he tackled the 200-yard individual medley.
“I’m happy that I made state because I never made state in a dual meet (always the league or district championships). This is a pretty big year for me,” said Xavier, who qualified in the first meet of the season against Juanita.
On hopefully pushing through to the state finals this year, he added: “You just got to work harder, you can never work too hard.” He also competes with Ivan on the Issaquah Swim Team.
Jonsson, a junior, was also a member of three state relays last year and thrives on working hard to get stellar results. The Mustang said he gets goosebumps and a boost of energy when teammates cheer him on.
He’s been swimming since he was 10 years old and doesn’t want to stop anytime soon.
“It takes a decent load of dedication to be a swimmer, and once you get into this group of people with similar thinking, similar work ethic as you (it’s satisfying),” Jonsson said.
Markling, a former water-polo player when he lived in California, got hooked on Redmond High swimming as a freshman and qualified for state as part of the 200-yard freestyle relay last year.
“The closest thing up here to water polo is swimming, and I just fell in love with it. I just realized how supportive the swim team was of each other and how much of a family we became,” the junior said.
Senior captain Ryan Harper is one of five members of his family to take part in Redmond High swimming. He’s been swimming since age 5 and enjoys the team aspect of the program along with working hard in practice and at meets.
Harper was part of the state 200-yard medley relay last year and has qualified for districts this season in the 100 breast and 200 IM.
His older sister Heather, a Redmond High state champion in the 100 breast, told him something once that never faded from his mind: “She told me that if you try as hard as you can in every race, then you’ll succeed in swimming — that’s really kept me going.”
