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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

Like many athletes, senior Jack Oghalai of West Forsyth picked up a sport watching an older sibling compete.

In this case, Oghalai tried it as a sophomore for the Titans because his brother, Aidan, who graduated in 2023, swam for the team.

So, with less than a month left in the season, Jack Oghalai is starting to reflect on his time in the pool.

“I pretty much just got into it in high school because he told me how he liked doing it,” Jack Oghalai said of Aidan. “So, I thought it’d be cool to pick it up.”

So, like many little brothers, Jack Oghalai wanted to emulate his older sibling.

“I don’t know, it seemed cool and it seemed like he enjoyed it, so I thought it’d be kind of fun to do.”

Once he jumped in the pool a love for the sport started to blossom.

“I definitely liked doing it. And I wanted to practice a lot, because I wanted to catch up to where I thought I should be because I just started doing it when everyone else had swam like a lot longer,” Jack Oghalai said.

Although Jack Oghalai was a bit coy about how much he had swum in the past, he admitted that he did swim a handful of years for his old club team.

“I did a little bit on TYDE when I was younger, maybe in like elementary school,” Jack Oghalai said. “I never really stuck with it long.”

After a break from TYDE he came back to his club team when he started swimming for West Forsyth.

“I kind of wish I would’ve started my freshman year, at least, because I definitely feel like I missed out on that a little bit.”

Because of starting swimming competitively so late in life, so to speak, it was like he was always swimming upstream.

“I definitely felt like I was, had like a late start on it, and I was kind of behind with (it),” Oghalai said.

That lag between himself and his peers was noticeable.

“It kind of depends because there’s like a wide range, of at least at the time, like the skill level of the people on the team,” Oghalai said. “So, I don’t feel I was too far behind. But I definitely like I could’ve been better if I had stuck with it longer like some of the others.”

Coach Sandy Thomerson, who is in her final season of coaching the Titans’ swim team, also coached Aidan before coaching Jack.

“When they were younger they had the same build,” she said. “It’s a little different now, but they look a lot alike, too, actually. I call Jack Aidan all the time by accident. He laughs at me.”

It was all a process, He started with TYDE to get back into swimming. He swam there for his sophomore and junior years, while swimming with his high school team.

“He didn’t really swim year-round,” Thomerson said of Jack Oghalai. “That’s why I didn’t really know his name, or him.”

Because of his late start to swimming, there are pros and cons to that.

“I think it’s a happy medium, especially with the burnout rate that we have now that might’ve helped him hang in there some,” Thomerson said. “But it’s tough to tap into your full potential when you start that late.”

Jack Oghalai gave up swimming with TYDE before his senior season. But with TYDE, Oghalai swam year-round, thus rarely being able to practice with his teammates at West Forsyth.

“It was definitely kind of hard because a lot of us didn’t practice together,” Oghalai said. “So, to sort of have like the team bonding and experience and stuff. We would have the team dinners every Sunday before a meet.

“So, I think that was a good way that we sort of got to hang out and get to know each other better. Because other than that, like our only team participation was at the meets that we did together.”

One of Jack Oghalai’s teammates as a sophomore with the Titans was his brother, Aidan.

“That was cool,” Jack Oghalai said. “I definitely looked up to him. And he always like — he even gave me advice with anything like technique — anything like that. And it was definitely fun to like to have him to talk to about all of our team stuff, and it was cool being on the team with him.”

Just two years apart in age the dynamic between the two brothers has always been there since Jack Oghalai was born.

“I think definitely since we’ve gotten older we’ve been more like cool with each other,” Jack Oghalai said of Aidan, who is now a sophomore at N.C. State. “Because obviously when we were younger it was fighting and stuff. I think we have a good bond and a good relationship.”

As a sophomore, Jack Oghalai swam pretty much every stroke.

“I would swim whatever I got put in,” he said. “I was pretty much going all-around and just doing whatever.”

Unfortunately for Jack, he only had a chance to swim with Aidan for one season before Aidan graduated. So, last season as a junior, Jack almost had to start from scratch.

“It definitely felt different, but at that point I was really committed with TYDE and swimming a lot,” Jack Oghalai said. “And I was excited to get back into the high school swimming season after I had swam another year, another year of improving with TYDE. And it felt good to get back and swim with West again.”

As a junior Jack Oghalai began swimming more on sprints and freestyle events. Now as a senior, he’s almost exclusively swimming the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, along with the relays.

“I feel like I kind of got to where I realized that was what I liked doing, and the short-distance, sprint freestyle was my favorite, my favorite events to swim. And I kind of realized that was what I was best at and just started focusing more to try to work on that.”

Much of that was just maturity.

“He’s been good,” Thomerson said. “It’s funny to think three years. He’s such a good kid. He’s quiet, so, you know, he doesn’t speak up a lot or talk up a lot. He’s a powerful kid, like he’s a sprinter. So, he’s all muscle. I yell at him all the time to quit lifting weights to, you know, to lengthen out his muscles a little bit.”

That change in his body has affected his personal records this season.

“I went a low 24 (seconds) this year in the 50, and I think 55 (seconds) in the 100,” Jack Oghalai said. “My 50 is about the same, a little bit faster even. And then my 100 is a little bit slower, I think not being as good a shape.”

Much of that might be chalked up to not swimming as much in the past year. In that time, Jack Oghalai elected to quit swimming for TYDE.

“Last like February, I was just kind of getting burnt out from practicing so much,” he said. “And I kind of just took time off until this high school season started again. I just decided for my senior year to stick with the team and practice with West.”

Like many swimmers, it’s a grind to practice as much as required, plus be a top-notch student.

“I wouldn’t say I was super-burnt out,” Jack Oghalai said. “I guess I just stopped wanting to practice as much.”

That gets back to swimming upstream again.

“I think a little bit,” Jack Oghalai said of losing the passion for swimming. “And kind of after I stopped it’s harder to get going again, to get back into it.”

Thomerson has seen recent burnout from swimmers.

“I think as a whole it seems spirits and excitement seem to be a little bit lagging,” she said. “I mean, that’s across the board. So, we have had some discussions as a team, and I saw some improvement in everybody the meet we had (last) Wednesday. So, hopefully they know we only have a month left.”

Despite some malaise about swimming as his high school career wanes, Thomerson knows she will always get full effort from Jack Oghalai.

“But his heart is still big and I’ll take that any day,” she said.

That’s backed up by his times, according to swimcloud.com.

In the Robert R. Sawyer Invitational just before Christmas at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, Jack Oghalai finished 24.24 in the 50 free and 56.18 in the 100 free. On Jan. 3 against Mount Tabor and Reagan, swam some different events, and finished 1:04.95 in the 100 butterfly and 1:10.78 in the 100 back. And last Wednesday, he swam the 50 free and finished 24.69.

Still, despite performing well, he still has some reservations.

“And I kind of have like sometimes wishing that I would’ve not taken a break as much and kind of stuck with it to have my senior year be a little bit better,” Jack Oghalai said.

He has one last sprint toward the end of the season. West Forsyth has one final scheduled meet this Friday against Oak Grove and Ledford. Then, it’s the Central Piedmont 4-A meet at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, the possibility of the NCHSAA Class 4-A Central Regional on Feb. 1 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, and the NCHSAA Class 4-A state championship at Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, which is the following week.

“I think our relays will definitely go (to the Regional),” Jack Oghalai said. “I’m not sure about me going for an individual event, but I’m sure we’ll have our relays go.”

One other thing is, no matter what Jack Oghalai does the rest of this season, he will go out with Thomerson.

“It’ll complete two whole cycles for me, eight years, means I took two full classes at some point from freshman to senior,” Thomerson said. “So, I think that was a good decision (to go out this season).”

There are two senior boys and 10 senior girls on the Titans’ swim team.

“I think we all sort of realize that it’s our last year, and it’s Sandy’s last year,” Jack Oghalai said. “And we definitely want to make it the best that we can be.”

Swimming will likely be over for Jack Oghalai in less than a month. However, he still has a decision to make. With a 4.4 GPA he is hoping to go to either N.C. State or North Carolina this coming fall and wants to major in biology.

Although it wouldn’t be in the pool, at least competitively, he could reunite with his brother Aidan at N.C, State.

“I think that would be cool, especially already knowing somebody there,” Jack Oghalai said. “And having that connection would be pretty cool.”