Edinburg North swimmer Rios quickly gained experience

EDINBURG — When she began high school, Edinburg North swimmer Cheyenne Rios wouldn’t drown if you threw her into a pool. Thing is, she didn’t really know how to do much else in the water.

Unlike many other Valley swimmers, she never swam for a club team or had much exposure to competitive swimming before high school.

Four years later, Rios is a three-year captain of the Lady Cougars swimming team. That’s not exactly what she expected, either.

“I thought I would just go in and compete,” Rios said. “I think I’ve been really good. But I think I can do a lot better.”

Not only that, she has matured into one of the team’s unquestioned leaders and a de facto assistant coach.

“She can teach and she can run drills,” Edinburg North coach Fernando Delgado said. “If I’m busy with the little ones, or the fish as I like to call them, she’s able to take over practice.”

Before entering high school, Rios attended Brewster School about 20 miles north of Edinburg. The small, rural school with graduating classes that don’t exceed 30 offered many athletic programs but swimming wasn’t one of them. Inspired by her older sister Odie, who is one year ahead of her and also swam for North, Cheyenne tried out for the team.

After about a six-week trial period for freshmen, Cheyenne stuck with the sport, though her transition into competitive swimming still wasn’t complete. But even during that early period, Delgado saw leadership qualities in Cheyenne. She didn’t miss a practice and continued working to improve despite her inexperience.

“At my first meet I was really nervous because all I did was a whole bunch of land sports,” Cheyenne said. “And then now I had to jump into the water and go swimming.”

Since getting over that, Cheyenne has overcome her lack of swimming experience to become one of the Lady Cougars’ most versatile swimmers. Delgado said he could use her in any event and feel confident in Cheyenne’s ability.

That’s not bad for a swimmer who entered high school only knowing freestyle. At tonight’s District 31-5A meet, she’ll be swimming the 200-yard individual medley, 500-yard freestyle, the 200-freestyle relay and 400-freestyle relay.

“As far as how quickly she got here, it’s very impressive,” Delgado said.

Brian Sandalow covers high school swimming for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via e-mail at bsandalow@themonitor.com.