The second season is now over, and so has the journey for our swimmers. The team finished with a silver medal, missing gold by just a hair’s length away. Despite the 2nd place finish, all the boys swam their best with many breaking personal as well as  IASAS records.

Day one started off a bit slowly with the team gaining a gold medal and a silver medal from Captain Thana “TarTar” Jarunsinchai (12) and Captain Sirasith “Om” Samanthai (12) in the 100 meter breaststroke, and a silver from Tee Amornkasemwong (12) in the 50 meter fly.

Despite the slow start in day 1, the team really stepped it up in Day 2 and was able to claim a medal in all the events, with 1 bronze and 3 golds from the 4 events that day. They were able to claim bronze from sophomore Jamie Jenviphakul in the 100 meter relay, gold from Om Samanthai in the 200 meter breaststroke, TarTar’s 200 meter individual medley, and the 400 meter medley relay.

Day 3 of IASAS was a tough battle for the swimmers with ISB gaining 2 bronze medals in the 50 and 400 meter freestyle from Jamie Jenviphakul (10) and Chanon Wang (11), and 1 gold once again from TarTar Jarunsinchai in the 100 meter butterfly. The last event, the 400 meter free relay, ended with a silver finish causing ISB to narrowly lose to TAS by 12.5 with their points standing at 584, and third place, JIS, standing at 510.5.

Coming in to IASAS, favorites were placed on ISB by both viewers and other swimmers, having such strong returning IASAS athletes. And the team proved them right, with many individuals stepping up to show outstanding performances.

When asked about individuals stepping up, Coach Day says that many swimmers went and swam their best, but he wants to especially give shout outs to Om Samanthai who broke a school record, and Tee Amornkasemwong who went under 1 minute for the 100m fly which is “an amazing swim for any high school swimmer.” But most importantly, the MVP who won 4 individual golds, broke 2 IASAS records, winner of the FINA top point swim award – TarTar Jarunsinchai. “It was obvious that TarTar was the best swimmer in the whole IASAS championship,” Coach Day quotes.

The team may have not got gold, but they gained respect and honor from other swimmers at IASAS, the spectators at JIS, the people who watched the livestream, and us, ISB. More importantly, they gained an unforgettable experience of working hard to accomplish team and personal goals which all the swimmers did. Jamie Jeviphakul says “everyone either met, or exceeded both their and our coaches’ expectations. With almost all of our boys team consisting of returning swimmers, we just did what we were supposed to do last year that we could not accomplish, and ended up swimming our best.”