Flour Bluff's Salut handles adjustment after moving from Philippines to qualify for state
Yzac Salut was no stranger to the pool when he arrived in Corpus Christi.
But a world of new challenges awaited him when he moved from the Philippines before school started this year.
He approached Flour Bluff coach Bryan Hutchinson last summer and told him he was a competitive swimmer and now months later, despite all the adjustments that come with joining a new team and coming to a new country, Salut and his teammates will represent the Hornets at the Class 5A UIL State Swim Meet in Austin this week.
"It means a lot to make it to state," Salut said. "It was a new environment for me and a new experience. There is a lot more competition here and a lot of guys that are faster. It is a good feeling."
Salut said the transition was aided by the members of the Bluff swim program, which welcomed him. Now both are excelling — Salut advanced to state in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle and as part of the Bluff boys 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.
The Hornets junior said aside from the competition, the biggest difference are the training facilities and equipment at his disposal.
"As I got more familiar with everything, I saw a difference, because I had my friends to guide me," Salut said. "When I first got here, they made me feel welcome. I love this team."
Hutchinson said that Salut's impact is felt across the team. Flour Bluff brought back a handful of swimmers with state experience, but the newcomer's endurance helped push even the most talented swimmers in the pool.
"Based on the training he had prior to coming here, he is more endurance-based," Hutchinson said. "That base has helped him out and helped our training. He just goes and goes and goes. Our boys have to chase him in the longer sets and endurance sets.
"He has improved quite a bit as we have been teaching him to sprint. He is used to swimming 400 IM, and he was dropping time in the 200 IM all year long and we are hopeful of him dropping time at state. The sprinting has been different for him, but he's starting to jump on that and the weight lifting has been different."
Salut and his teammates broke the school record in the 200 medley relay last week at the Region VIII-5A meet and have their sights on clipping it again (1:38.30) in Austin.
Hutchinson said he felt the group (Jaden Ferguson, Jaden Lopez, Salut, Landon Wendel) had a chance to break it at state this season, but they surprised him and broke it during regionals and have a chance to drop it further.
"I want to do my best and get my best times," Salut said. "We broke that school record and my expectation is to break it again this week. As long as I swim my best and I know I did my best, I'm not disappointed."
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Bluff takes large group to state
Flour Bluff will again take a large caravan to state with entrants in 24 events this week.
While in years past, the Hornets had swimmers aiming at state medals, with a large group of young swimmers, Hutchinson sees this week as a chance to gain experience for the future.
"We'd like to get as many top 16 swims as we can," Hutchinson said. "In some individual events maybe even sneak into top eight — on the boys side especially. Really the goal is to get as much experience as we can. Most of these kids are coming back next year and we think that can be a year to focus on the top eight."
More: High school swimming: Flour Bluff sweeps District 29-5A titles; girls win 17th straight
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Flour Bluff swimmer Salut shines after move from Philippines
