Juan Pablo Cardenas is a senior who excels at his academics, extracurriculars, and is also the captain of the Coronado swim team, which is currently the most dominant team in the city.
A couple weeks ago, the boys swim team brought home a district title and will be going on to compete at regionals in Midland, Texas. At the district meet, Juan Pablo competed in the 200 medley relay, 100 meter butterfly, 200 freestyle relay, and the 100 meter backstroke, setting a district record in the 200 medley relay and in the 100 meter backstroke. He qualified in all four events to go onto regionals as an individual and with his team.
Being a dedicated student athlete comes with the biggest challenge of them all, possessing good time managment. Juan Pablo will be attending the University of Texas at Austin this year which comes with taking rigorous and challenging classes. He says that although it is difficult, he has learned how to split his time and balance the two.
“It is definitely challenging. The best way to balance the two is to separate practice time for improving my times and separate school time for improving my grades, ” he said.
He also explains that building strong relationships with his teachers has helped him advance in both school and swimming.
“I do this all while having a good relationship with teachers so they understand when I need more time for an assignment due to swimming, ” he said.
Growing up with the same people and all having the same goals for four years comes with forever bonds and many memories. Juan Pablo says his favorite memory from his time on the swim team is going to Lubbock his freshman year.
“My favorite memory has been our out of town trips, specifically going to Lubbock freshman year. The team bond became a lot better and we had a lot of fun,” he said.
As Juan Pablo reflects on his time being on the swim team, he sees all the things he has achieved, individually and as a team. He explains that they are the most presiding swim team in the city and have each set many school records.
“As a whole, we are the most dominant team in El Paso. We have been able to take down a few old records as a team and as an individual I have been able to set new school records in my personal events,” he said.
But, as with everything, there is always room for improvement. Juan Pablo looks forward to his regional meet and explains that now he is really focusing on improving the minor details.
“I’m looking to improve all the little and technical things about each stroke, but overall my times in my events and in our team relays”. He thinks that the meet will go very well for him and his team.”I think it will go really well not only individually, but for everyone,” Juanpablo said.
The swim team will compete at regionals February 7-8th and they are all eager to see how they finish out this last season.
