Swim practice inspires student-made podcast

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Puzzles Podcast features junior Henry Mills, senior Bender Russo and junior Mark Laboe, with new episodes available on Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud.

Sam Ruvarac and Maddy Engels, Staff Writers

Juniors Mark Laboe and Henry Mills and senior Bender Russo have added a new twist to the random thoughts shared during long school swim practices by starting a podcast called Puzzles Podcast.

Spending hours over winter break with the same people brings out odd conversations between the boys on the swim team.

“[During winter break], we spend five- plus hours with the same people talking about the same stuff, and you get these really weird conversations,” Laboe said. “We wondered what other people would think if we produced a podcast, so we just kind of did.”

In the middle of January the swimmers released their first episode, which was played 1,800 times. Since then, the podcast has become widely recognized among their peers.

“Puzzles Podcast is a top-notch podcast because Henry, Bender and Mark have hot takes on a lot of different subjects,” said junior Dino Bigger. “They stay true to the formula of just chillin’ with a voice memo recording it all.”  

On the podcast the boys talk about anything on their minds, from rapper 21 Savage to Super Bowl ads. They also have had guests featured on Puzzles Pod, such as junior Matthew Simon.

The boys spend a lot of time planning out content ideas for their podcast. A lot of the time the boys get the inspiration from playing video games or during swim practice they come up with ideas.

“I spent the entire Super Bowl with my Chromebook in my lap taking notes on all the commercials,” Russo said.

Puzzles Podcast has had a strong start, and followers are hopeful about their future. The boys are currently focused on releasing new content on a frequent basis, and they plan on continuing to work together even when Russo goes to college in the fall.

Puzzles Podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud. Updates can be found on Twitter @PuzzlesPOD and on Instagram @puzzlespod.