Fun. Energetic. Encouraging. Those are just a few of the words Peninsula High School swimmers use to describe one of this year’s captains, senior Brooke Dombroski. Dombroski, a Running Start student who splits her time between classes TCC and Swim and Chinese Four at PHS, seems to do it all.

Dombroski officially started her swimming career in 9th grade when she tried out for the swim team with only one year of prior experience. Initially, she developed an interest in swimming because of its ability to provide a full-body workout. Once she made the team, her infectious personality and talent for the 100 meter butterfly made her a hit amongst her peers.

“She does a really good 100 fly. Brooke’s improved a lot in the past few years. She was always good but she keeps getting better because she works super hard.” said Dombroski’s co-captain and swimmer of 10 years, Whitney Mundle.

As co-captains, Dombroski and Mundle design the team apparel, work with Coach Brown to decide practice times, manage Secret Sisters, and take care of any outside events. However, being team captain doesn’t make the daily practices any different.

According to Dombroski, “It doesn’t differ because I’m the captain. I do the same thing as anyone else. On mondays, wednesdays, and fridays we do workouts in the weight room. Different weight room days we focus on different areas of the body. We do an hour in the weight room and then go downstairs and swim for an hour and a half. On tuesdays and thursdays we swim for two and a half hours.”

A big part of being in a leadership role on swim team is simply being there to help your teammates. “I like being swim captain because people come to me when they need help with their stroke or they don’t know when their event is in a meet. They just ask me for advice and I think that’s cool.” Dombroski said.

As far as Jacob Huffer is concerned, Dombroski’s mentoring skills don’t go unappreciated. Now a swimmer in his junior year, Huffer also started his swim career as a freshman. He really admires how she always knows what she’s talking about, her approachability, and how she explains things exceptionally well.

What really separates Dombroski from her teammates and helps to define her as a leader is her constant enthusiasm and light heartedness. She comes to practice and swim meets with the best kind of attitude, and her infectious smile keeps her teammates’ spirits high, regardless the circumstances.

“She always has a smile on her face. She’s the one person who never complains. Brooke is super positive, always happy, and keeps the energy high,” said Mundle. “She makes everybody happy – whenever you look at her she always has a smile on her face and she can always put a smile on mine.”