The Troy Tiger Sharks will close out their regular season schedule this evening at the Troy Recreation Swimming pool. After visiting Andalusia a week ago, the Tiger Sharks will now host the Stingrays in Troy.

“We are ready,” said head coach Nicklaus Chrysson. “We are excited and looking forward to it.  Last year it flooded out both of our home meets, so we are hoping it doesn’t do that. All of our swimmers are excited because it’s home and we don’t have to travel. They are used to this pool and they are comfortable here.”

It takes over an hour to get to Andalusia, and for many of the swimmers, their families weren’t able to watch the meet. Chrysson expects an enthusiastic crowd this evening.

“That will drive them, I’m sure, to do a little better,” Chrysson said. 

The Tiger Sharks had many practices washed out over the last few weeks. Despite that, Chrysson says his team outperformed his expectations in Andalusia.

“We did really good in our last meet – better than I expected, but we did good because we had extra time to practice,” Chrysson said. “It was the first meet for a lot of our swimmers. That intrasquad meet did help gain some reference to how the swim meets work. I think that was a good idea.”

After tonight’s meet, the Tiger Sharks will shift their focus to the district meet in Dothan on July 14. Until then, the Tiger Sharks will work on getting their strokes in order.

“We have been teaching them from day one the proper technique and stroke,” Chrysson said. “When we do go to Dothan for district and state, for those who make it, we have to have proper technique or we will get disqualified.

“We have been pushing our swimmers harder than they would like, but that just makes for better times and faster races.”

Despite the extra pushing from Chrysson and his fellow coaches, the swimmers are still enjoying coming to the pool every day.

“A lot of the swimmers are excited about coming to swim practice,” Chrysson said. “I talked to one parent whose daughter looks at her an hour before practice and asked her if it’s time to get ready. I feel like a lot of them are excited.”

The meet will get underway officially at 6 p.m. There will be a warmup period that begins an hour earlier at 5 p.m.