Congrats to the winner of December’s leader of the pack, senior and boys swimming captain Sam Paloma.

Paloma describes the feeling of winning as a big confidence booster for him, as it shows him he has the support of his friends and family.

“It feels pretty good that I won this award. But having the support of all my friends and family made this a very cool and rewarding experience. Constantly having people say, ‘I voted for you,’ was definitely a confidence booster because it showed that with hard work, things go the way you want them to, and you can do anything if you put your mind to it,” Paloma said.

Coach Dan VanderJeugt shares his reasons for nominating Paloma for the award.

“[Sam’s] communication skills, he talks with all the boys, even those not on varsity and that is what makes Sam a quality kid. Its the whole picture. It is not just him being exclusive with the varsity squad, he is nice and communicative with everybody,” VanderJeugt said.

Paloma was not expecting the win but feels he owes the victory to the support of his teammates and coaches.

“No, I wasn’t expecting to win, it was close for the first couple of days which made things interesting but after the second day, I started pulling away. Patrick and Kevin are great student-athletes, and I have a lot of respect for them, especially because we all know that they work really hard at their sports. I am just grateful I have won this award, and thankful for all of those who supported me,” Paloma said.

Out of a total of 801 votes, Paloma ended with 435 votes. Make sure to congratulate Paloma on his win this month.