The West Ranch Wildcats swim team had a dominant season, taking the Foothill League title for both the girls and the boys.
But the future could be even brighter with the introduction of freshmen Emma Hussein and Jace Lloyd.
Both were the MVP scorers for the Wildcats, according to head coach Kearsten Livingstone, and both won multiple events at the Foothill League finals before taking part in both the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals and the state meet.
“These swimmers have probably been two freshmen that have had the greatest impact probably over the course of my entire coaching time,” Livingstone said. “I want to say they’ve probably made, no pun intended, the biggest splash.”
Hussein won both the girls’ 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke. She then went on to place third in the 200 IM at both the section finals and the state meet.
Those performances have her thinking about what more she could accomplish if she keeps working hard.
“It really excites me, actually,” Hussein said. “I think knowing how far I could go right now, then I could be a lot more excited to go to practice and work harder.”
She was also part of the 4×50 medley relay that took ninth at the section finals, as well as the 4×100 freestyle relay that finished eighth. She got to swim with her older sister, Yara, a senior, in the latter event, and got to pick her brain about how to become a future leader for the program.
“It was really fun, her driving me to practice and kind of her showing me the ropes of how to take over the next couple years,” Hussein said. “I had a lot of questions. I didn’t know where to go. I think she really just answered all of them for me. And it was a source of confidence as well.”
Lloyd, whose older brother, Colson, swims for Cal State Bakersfield, was the Foothill League champion in the boys’ 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. He went on to compete in both events at the section finals, as well as with both the 4×50 medley relay and the 4×100 freestyle relay teams. Both of those relay teams also competed at the state meet.
He said it takes a lot of work, both mentally and physically, to be a great swimmer. He realized at a young age — both Lloyd and Hussein started swimming around 5 or 6 years old — that he enjoys competition, and the more he competed in swimming, the more he fell in love with the sport.
But as much as both of the swimmers said they enjoy competing themselves and want to continue to do well, their main goals are to help their teammates to succeed. Both are part of the Canyons Aquatic Club and are looking forward to seeing some of their club teammates make the leap up to the high school level for next season.
“I just want to kind of guide them through how West Ranch is like, and eventually, in the next three years, I want to place high at states as a team,” Lloyd said.
While Hussein was great individually, her favorite moment from the season was hearing the scores come out during the league finals and learning that the girls’ team had beaten Valencia in the team standings by one point.
“We didn’t know that it would come down super close against Valencia. So, listening to the results in real time, it was really exciting,” Hussein said.
And though league dominance is something Livingstone is proud of, she’s hoping Lloyd and Hussein can help lead a new era for West Ranch to take that dominance beyond.
“With the program that we’ve built, I think that we’re going to kind of switch our focus from winning league titles to trying to score top five at CIF, which will be exciting for the league, for the valley,” Livingstone said. “I think they’re a big part of that. Obviously, they were the biggest point earners, they were both the MVP scorers for the season on our team. So, they’re going to kind of lead the charge as we kind of move into this new season as a team.”
