Pisgah swimmer closes out high school career at state
Feb. 15—Pisgah senior swimmer Luke Gonzales competed in state last week, coming up just short of earning the school's first state title inside of the pool.
"There's a little bit of angst whenever you go in," Pisgah and Tuscola swim coach Autumn Evans said. "You could tell he was a little nervous going in."
Gonzales finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle preliminary round and third in the 50-yard freestyle preliminary.
Between the preliminary rounds and the finals, Autumn said that Gonzales went off on his own and mentally prepared himself for the finals.
Then, the senior improved his finish in both.
"It's ultimately him and the pool when he's hopping in there," Evans said. "Nothing else matters. You're racing time."
In the 100-yard freestyle final, he moved up to a bronze medal position. He improved his time by nearly seven-tenths of a second.
It was going to be a tough race to win, however, as Lucca Battaglini, a senior from Durham School of the Arts, won the race with a time of 42.6 seconds. That time not only broke the 3A record but the state record across all classifications.
"You can't ask for anything more. Just being in the top five is phenomenal," Evans said. "It's one of those things that you can't beat as a senior. He went out strong."
In the 50-yard freestyle final, Gonzales bumped his finish 0.35 seconds, moving the senior into second.
"I feel like I'm giving everything I've got in both settings, but mentally it's a whole different environment," Gonzales said. "It's more competitive in finals."
The senior said that he feels more comfortable at those big meets like regionals and state. He said the expectations at the smaller meets with just one or two schools feel like there is more pressure and expectations on him.
"I feel more comfortable knowing I'll do better in that more competitive environment," Gonzales said.
He said that, like at regionals, he got to compete against a lot of the same swimmers he's competed alongside for the last several years.
"It was a blast," Gonzales said. "Like at regionals, I raced a lot of the same people. I know these people almost as teammates. It meant a lot to me to have these people that I can bond with that aren't even on my own team."
The two races closed out Gonzales' high school career.
"It's sad with him being my senior," Evans said. "I hate seeing him leave, but I'm excited for what his future holds."
Gonzales said that after the race another coach congratulated him on finishing out his senior season strong.
"That really sunk in at that point," he said. "I was kind of in limbo for a day or two."
Now, the swimmer is preparing to begin his college career. He'll be heading up to Virginia to compete for the Division III University of Lynchburg Hornets.
"My club coach and their coach went to school together, so I already had that connection," Gonzales said. "It was easy to connect because they are very similar people. It was a very familiar environment."
The program is still relatively new, having just finished its fifth season. Gonzales' 100-yard freestyle time at state would currently be the fifth fastest in Hornets' history. His 50-yard freestyle time would be the seventh-best the program has ever seen.
