The Grizzlies girls swim team may be small in number but their competitive nature bears witness to a strong collective for individual achievement, united together with a freestyle edge all their own. Sunnyside’s four-member squad: freshman Jesady Siller; sophomores Jessiela Gill and Yazlyn Ramirez; junior J’Naya Siller is coached by Nena Yanez, who was an assistant for two years prior to taking over this fall season. “I love being the girls swim coach because my two kids that are in high school now, they competed in summer league as well,” Yanez stated. “I love it because I’m on the summer board. So, I’ve been around swim for quite a long time.” Most Sunnyside aquatic athletes swim and practice only in the summer as a club member of the Sharks. There is not an indoor area pool facility, which is open throughout the year to support the development and training of student athletes. Regular season practice is Monday through Wednesday and on Friday at the Dalrymple’s family pool, who own Cliff’s Septic Service. Most of the girls concentrate on working out their own individual strokes, while practicing technique and their speed, coach acknowledged. “Last year and this year, has been quite a challenge,” Yanez described. Before COVID-19, there were a lot of freshmen from the summer league who wanted to join the team. Once the pandemic hit, the health restrictions put a damper on the program, she explained. “When the season opened very quickly, I couldn’t get the freshmen in because I couldn’t get a hold of them and when I did, they were very hesitant. It was just bad timing,” Yanez described. Her swimmers challenge and hold their own on an individual basis against Columbia Basin Big Nine teams based on the size and number of events swimmers participate in but it’s the competition between one another, which brings out the best in them. “They’ve got a little spiky spunk in them,” she conveyed. They swim against league teams weekly on Thursdays at Lions Pool. The limited three-week season began on March 11 and ends on the 25th. “Overall, in their single events, most of the girls have been coming in first, second or third coach reported. “Most of the time, they want to swim the same events,” she reported. One of the individual events the Grizzly girls make a consistent winning splash is in the 50-yard freestyle event. They routinely placed swimmers among the top three spots. “I’ve told the ladies; I know you want to beat your times and you want to do good in your swim. But right now, let’s just go out there and have some fun…to experience the feeling of participating in the sport they love,” coach Yanez expressed.