Friendly Competition

Jay glares at his rival and friend.

Ben stares at his rival and friend.

Best friends at school and competitors in the pool, sophomores Jay Schulte and Ben Rockwell have been racing each other in practice for the past two seasons. They have pushed each other to become better swimmers.

“It can be aggravating sometimes to swim with [Rockwell], but it makes us both faster,” said Schulte. “We are only really competitive in practice, but we swim different races so we don’t get the chance to swim against each other very much.”

Schulte and Rockwell enjoy swimming together but are sometimes distracted form their goals at the regions and state meet.

“Jay and Ben apply to the 90-10 rule,” said South swim coach Troy Christensen jokingly. “I love working with them 90 percent of the time, and the other 10 percent of the time, they are just annoying.”