By Cooper Chadwick
Last year Maize high school senior Zach Rife set school records in the 200 and 500 freestyle and also won the 200 and 100 freestyle at state.
This year Rife is beyond excited for his last year as an Eagle.
“The coaching staff has been great my four years. Both Maize and Maize South have a great group of swimmers right now that will be fun to see perform for top spots at our league championships. We have a good amount of State Qualifiers who I think can perform great and grab top spots,” Rife said.
Maize head coach Ted Gibson is impressed by Rife’s will to win and drive to succeed, as well as his team centered mindset.
“He won’t be outworked and he won’t be beaten in a set. I don’t have to push Zach because he always pushes himself. I’m also very proud that he cares about his team mates. I’ve seen some pretty good swimmers and some of them only care about their individual results. I guess that’s the nature of the sport coming from the club level. But Zach cares about his team both on a personal level and how they do at meets. He even cares about how the Mavericks do! He truly wants those close to him to be successful,” Gibson said.
To finish his high school career out right, Rife spent much of his off season working and getting better.
“During this offseason I have done a lot more backstroke sets, and had several private lessons to clean up my technique. I have also cleaned up my diet to lose weight and drop my body fat percentage without losing a lot of muscle,” Rife said.
