Missoula County Public Schools hired two new coaches for the current swim season, hoping to make a difference for all three high school teams.
Mari Rizzuto is a new assistant coach for the MCPS swim team, which is made up of Big Sky, Hellgate, Sentinel, and Lolo High School. Coaches usually bounce between all four schools, but when the teams are at meets, they compete against each other.
Rizzuto swam for Hellgate High School from 2015 to 2017. In a recent interview, Rizzuto expressed being very optimistic about the JV and Varsity teams, and she is hopeful to go to state.
“The larger percent is people returning to the team,” Rizzuto said, implying that will help with the team’s success.
Rizzuto has more than a decade of swimming experience, and teaches in a more relaxed way by having people perform activities and gives them advice when they get to the other side of the pool. Rizzuto also works with the more advanced swimmers in the pool, working drills to hopefully get the players endurance longer.
The second coach hired this year as head coach is Barry Flightner.
Like Rizzuto, Flightner is also optimistic about the team’s success this year. Flightner is hoping to take the team to new heights this season while keeping up with the traditions that the recurring players are used to, he said.
Flightner did not respond by publication time to follow up questions about his specific goals and swimming experiences.
But while there are two new coaches at the pool this year, there are returning ones, too. Jenell Roberson has been coaching swimming for four years with MCPS.
Roberson said she thinks that points wise for state the MCPS teams might see a decrease in women’s points due to many swimmers just graduating, but Roberson also thinks that there will be an increase in the boy’s points.
When asked about the new coaches, Big Sky swimmer and senior Blaire Wagner said they have been a great addition to the team this season and that she hopes to see improvement.
Wagner, who has been swimming for 10 years, is also swimming with her younger sister for the first time this year.
“It’s interesting because we hate each other [until] we get out of the pool… But it’s nice to have that small little competition,” Wagner said.
Practices for all schools take place in the early morning, 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., at the University of Montana Grizzly Pool, Monday to Friday. There are also optional practices after school.
The AA Missoula high schools have been practicing altogether for generations, and the crosstown collaboration is a tradition that the coaches hope to keep going.
