Sabres Swim To States...again!
REPORTER: Giselle Gonzalez
With the school year a little more than
halfway finished, we tend to look back and
remember our accomplishments, and even
some failures, of the school year thus far.
However, there is a certain group of students
who will look back on this school year and
distinctly remember what they accomplished
and the time they spent on the Sabre Swim
Team. After competing at Districts, where
the boys placed fifth overall and the girls
third, 16 swimmers qualified for Regionals
in Fort Myers. It was here where Zuhayr
Pigot became Regional Champion in the 50
freestyle and Chantell Peiter placed both
3rd in the 50 Freestyle and 5th in the 100
Freestyle. Their journey then continued to the
State Championship, where Zuhayr won both
the state championship in the 50 Freestyle,
and silver in the 100 Fly, which are both
tremendous accomplishments.
Kathy Bischoff, who graduated from
St. Brendan High School in 2009, has been
coaching the Sabre Swimmers for two years
now. Ms. Bischoff was gracious enough to
answer some questions for The Sabre in
regards to what led her to coaching the team
and what her experience has been like.
GG: Good afternoon Ms. B! So I’m going
to jump right into this interview and ask what
led you to this point? How did you end up
deciding to coach the Sabre Swimmers two
years ago?
KB: Well, I moved back from college
and I passed by to see how the swim team
was doing and to say hi to my old coach, and
the opportunity to help the team presented
itself from that visit. I’ve always wanted to
give back to St. Brendan. St. Brendan was my
home, and I was a captain my senior year, so
when I moved back from college I figured it
was a great opportunity.
GG: Wow! So in the two years you’ve
been coaching, how has the team progressed?
KB: Exponentially. Last year there
was a big gap because you would have the
swimmers that were still progressing, but this
year those swimmers became year-round
swimmers, so the entire swim team as a whole
has become so much better and there’s really
no gap between our swimmers. We have a
group of really good swimmers. All of them
are really good.”
GG: As far as personal development,
how do you think swimming has helped the
Sabre Swimmers develop as students and
individuals?
KB: Well, I feel as if they’ve learned to
deal with a great amount of responsibility.
They know they have a limited amount of time
when it comes to studying and how much
they have on their plate and they know they
need to prioritize and get everything done in
an orderly fashion so that they can continue to
do what they love.”
GG: So for my final question…how do
you feel about winning States?
KB: Ecstatic! Two years in a row…it can’t
get any better than that.
The Sabre also got a chance to talk to
Zuhayr Pigot and get “the scoop” on his year
as a swimmer and this is what he had to say:
“Even though I had already started
swimming before joining the Sabre Swimmers,
I always learned something new from the
St. Brendan coaches. One of my biggest
accomplishments this year as a swimmer was
not only winning my State Cham