Senior Zach Quintana has been representing the Bears in the pool since he first stepped on campus.
Quintana played a wide variety of sports throughout his childhood, including basketball, soccer, and baseball, but none of them really stuck with him. That is, until he joined the swim team freshman year, and his affinity for aquatic sports became evident.
“I loved the community there, being with a lot of the guys on the team,” Quintana said. “Some of the current sophomores at that time and my fellow freshman peers convinced me, ‘Hey, you gotta do water polo.’ So I decided as a sophomore to start doing water polo, and I made JV and I got some playing time, it was awesome.”
One of the most notable challenges of Quintana’s water polo career was his late start. “I wasn’t ever really the fastest swimmer when I was a freshman, and then also because I didn’t do water polo as a freshman, I wasn’t the best player, and that followed me into junior year,” Quintana said. “That’s kind of a struggle because you feel like everyone’s a level above you and you have to keep on chasing and climbing the ladder.”
Quintana points to one particular game that completely shifted his view on water polo. During one of the first water polo matches he ever attended, he recalls the electric and supportive energy on the JV team as they cheered varsity on. “It just showed that being on a team is really like a family. There’s a sense of unity. Your brothers are there to help you out, and you’re gonna keep on progressing and moving forward,” Quintana said.
One of his favorite memories from his time on the water polo team was their underdog win against Pioneer High School. “We beat them 14-12, and that really just set the precedent for our season,” Quintana explained. “This year, I think it’s all about just breaking the limits, breaking the boundaries, and maxing out our stats.”
Quintana continues to show his dedication to “climbing the ladder” as he balances academics, extracurriculars, and college applications. “It’s crazy, to be honest,” he said. “It was really chaotic at the beginning of the year, but now I’m sort of in my flow. I wake up early, do a little bit of studying in the morning, and then I get to school early.”
Quintana’s secret to getting it all done? Time management. “Sleep is number one,” he said. “It’s all built on sleep. If you sleep enough, you can manage your time. So that means you can’t be on your phone. You have to just work whenever you can. Listen to audiobooks if you’re in the car, and just work. Work hard, play hard.”
Quintana’s main goal for the future is to get into the best college he can. Water polo may not be his top priority, but he sees potential for a future as a college-level swimmer. “Based on my improvement from last year and projected improvement this year for swimming, I might be like a dolphin in the water. So, depending on how I do this year, I could potentially swim in college and see how that turns out,” he said.
“To people who aren’t in athletics, join them, because it’s like a family, It’s not a team.” Quintana said. To those who do play a sport: “You’re a student athlete, not an athlete student. Definitely manage your time. If I could go back, that’s something I would’ve tried to do better.”
