Boys Swim

Stoughton High School boy swim has come to a close after another record-breaking season. Gavin Reiser is a senior and led the team as captain this year, winning two state events to end the season. Reiser became the first swimmer in Stoughton boys program history to win two individual state titles in a single season at the WIAA Division II state meet on February 20, 2026. Reiser won both the 200-yard individual medley (1:52.35) and the 100-yard breaststroke (54.77).

“This is what I worked for every day this whole season,” Reiser said. “I knew who I was racing…I went out fast in both events and trusted I could hold on for the win.”

To achieve his goals in the pool, Reiser stuck to a strict training schedule across the season, focused on increasing speed and strength.

“I practice every night, generally two to two and a half hours. I’ll lift two to three times a week as well, just depending on the time of year. I’ll have some morning practices mixed in with that, so at least six practices in the pool a week and then two to three lifts on top of that,” Reiser said.

Reiser captained the team along with junior Hunter Johnson. When asked about how they would hype up or keep their team positive when at a meet, Reiser said: “I mean, just start yelling and clapping, I think the guys did a pretty good job of staying positive throughout the meets, but just gotta remind them that they’ve worked hard and they’re here to compete.”

Johnson had a similar philosophy of staying loud and offering positive feedback to teammates.

“One of the main things I would do to hype up the team towards the end of a long meet was to constantly remind them of how much time they may have dropped or how much they have accomplished at the meet thus far,” Johnson said.

Johnson is also really focusing on feedback and making sure no one feels down if they lose.

“I give them helpful feedback as to what they did good in their races and what they can do to perform well in their upcoming races. Also enticing them with the thought of food and rest afterwards,” Johnson said. When asked how Johnson juggled the nerves of practicing and maintaining a positive team atmosphere, he replied, “Some of the newer members of the team were a little bit nervous coming into the new season, so I would try my best to help acclimate them to the new environment and make sure they were included in the team.” Johnson continued, “I also tried to lead by example, guiding some of the incoming freshmen and juniors into the swing of things. One of my favorite moments was during our first meeting.”

All the new people were kind of nervous, but throughout the events, you could see them starting to loosen up and have fun. It was nice for me to be able to show them what it’s like while also participating alongside them.”

The futures are bright for both Reiser, who will continue his swimming career at the college level next year, and Johnson, as he begins planning to lead a new boys’ team next year.

“I’m committed to swim at Oakland University, it’s a Division I school in Michigan. So I’ll be swimming there and studying Biomedical Sciences as well,” Reiser said.

Johnson said, “In the future, I plan on going into some sort of Engineering and potentially continuing my swim career at the college I end up going to. Next season, I plan to create a more unified team environment and recruit a bunch of new people to improve the team further.”

The team’s head coach, Heather Solis, was committed to her athletes this season, creating workouts that challenged them and fostered improvement.

“I believe a lot in technique and the team being one, we don’t really focus on just like the best swimmers, we try to make it one whole complete team and make sure everyone feels included and feels supported,” she said.

“We do different kinds of drills. So there are the four main strokes, and we’ll do different drills for each one… and observing how they swim, or they might say, this has been hurting, we can evaluate the stroke and then tell them how to correct it using repetitive motion to give them muscle memory,” Solis said.

Overall, everyone is encouraged to give the sport a chance and see for themselves what a strong team, driven by hard work and dedication, looks like.