KING CITY — King City High School swim team’s season-ending awards night, held earlier this month, ended with a surprise for head coach Cheryll Hill, who was thanked for her 30 years of coaching the Mustang teams.
“I was not expecting to be recognized,” Hill said. “I love to see the kids learn the strokes correctly and improve their times. I love watching them fall in love with swimming. Both my son and daughter swam for King City High School.”
Along with her assistant coach and husband Roger Hill, Cheryll Hill has helped develop a program that has stood the passing of time.
“The closest high school that had a swimming team when we started was Salinas,” she said. “We were the first in the Valley. Because King City High School didn’t have a program, we had to develop it from scratch. The King City Recreation Department played an integral part allowing us to use their facility. We started with one swimmer who needed a coach and we built the program from there.”
The May 10 evening began with the team members and their families joining the coaches for a tri-tip sandwich dinner and a table full of delicious desserts.
Swimmers were then introduced by Cheryll Hill, and each one received achievement certificates and ribbons from placing in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Championships.
After special team awards were presented, Roger Hill took the stage to unveil a beautiful board that was presented to his wife.
The words on the board thanked Cheryll Hill for her “loving commitment” to the King City Swim Club from 1991 to 2021 and the King City High School Mustang Swimming program from 1998 to 2023.
“The award will be displayed next to the record board at the pools,” said Roger Hill.
Special team award winners for this season were: Julian Alatorre (Most Valuable Swimmer); Maximiliano Morales (Most Valuable Swimmer); Julian Torres (Coaches Award); Hayden Munoz (All In Award); Mia Lopez (Most Valuable Swimmer); and Meagan Schwartzhoff (Silver Lining Award).
