(Stephen Biggs)
by Thelma Grimes
Vail Sun
September 19, 2007
Copyright (c) 2007 Vail Sun
Steven Biggs is young, entering the 2007 swim season as a sophomore, but his love of swimming and dedication to improvement have made him the leading point scorer for the Cienega Bobcats this year. At the Bobcats' final home meet of the season, Biggs said he is excited about the post season and hopes that the Bobcats will build on last year's finish, where the medley relay teams placed. The sophomore said he hopes more individuals, including himself, make it further.
Biggs has competed in several events this season, including the 200-meter individual medley, the 400-meter free relay and the 200-meter medley relay with teammates C. J. Washburn, Thomas Flanagan and Alex Donaldson.
"This year I've been constantly improving every meet this season," Biggs said. "I'm really trying to get to state in the individual events. We have to get through regionals and just keep working hard."
Swim Coach Sam McGee said at the beginning of the season that Biggs was going to be one to watch this season and, as the season progressed, that's been the case.
"Steven works hard, he leads the team in points and has done a great job all season," he said.
Biggs said swimming is something he loves.
"It's a great sport and a lot of fun," he said. "It's one of those sports that is about hard work. It tones the body and is great for competition. You get such an adrenaline rush in the heat of competition. It's just great."
Biggs said while most of the team this season is young and will need to grow in coming years, the six seniors have been great mentors.
"They are veterans, they know how to improve and they know what to say to us to help us improve our times," he said.
The Cienega swim team will be heading to post season action this week in regionals.
by Thelma Grimes
Vail Sun
September 12, 2007
Copyright (c) 2007 Vail Sun
With two meets out of the way, the Cienega Bobcats' swim team is well into the 2007 season. Coach Sam McGee said this year's team will work on improving last year's record where the boys' team finished third in the 4A Kino League and the girls' team took fourth.
Leading this year's team, McGee said they have six starting seniors on the two teams, and Stephen Biggs.
McGee said Biggs is already turning heads on the team and has finished well in the first two meets. To open the season against Buena, Biggs took first place in the 100-meter butterfly, turning in a time of 1-minute, 07.73 seconds and in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:32.9.
However, Buena took the first meet, as the Cienega Bobcats are without a diving team this season. McGee said one of the team's weaknesses continues to be that they are small compared to other teams in the conference.
However, on the plus side, McGee said this year's team is a group of dedicated swimmers. In the first home meet on Thursday, the Bobcats also showed plenty of enthusiasm with pre-competition cheers and chants.
Results for the home meet were not provided, but McGee said, "Our team as a whole is doing great this year. Each swimmer improves with every practice and every meet."
This week the Bobcats will host another home meet on Thursday against Sabino. Home meets are held at the Clement Center, located at 8155 E. Poinciana Drive. Action is slated to begin at 4 p.m.
