After a somewhat disappointing finish in their last meet, the swim and dive team was looking to bounce back in their next meet of the season against Sherwood, Blair, Quince Orchard, Northwest and Gaithersburg on Feb. 3 “This meet featured some of the best swimmers in the county and we were kind of intimidated going in but we knew we were the best,” senior captain Lauren Woodward said.
In the first event, the boys’ 200-yard medley relay, a team consisting of juniors Aaron Lazar and Jonathan Odim, along with senior captains Jonathan Yune and Jeffrey Qin, finished third with a time of 1:41.06, just 4.46 seconds behind first place. The girls’ 200-yard medley relay also came in the top five as a team consisting of freshman Laura Chen, sophomore Joy Shi and juniors Cece Zhao and Rita Zheng finished in fourth with a time of 1:55.41.
In the boys’ 200-yard freestyle, senior Eric Lu dominated the competition placing first with a time of 1:46.58. In the girls’ 200-yard freestyle, Shi finished just inside the top 10 with a time of 2:06.07, only 13 seconds behind the first place finisher. In the 200-yard IM the boys did not disappoint as Yune finished seventh with a time of 2:11.63. The girls took the fourth place position as Zhao finished seven seconds behind first place with a time of 2:14.48.
Both the girls and the boys were commanding in the 50-yard freestyle; for the girls, Zhang finished seventh with a time of 25.75 while for the boys, Qin finished in third with a time of 22.46.
In the deep end of the pool, the boys locked in one spot in the top five diving spots with freshman Riley Jordan scoring 186.25 points to finish fifth. The girls took fifth and seventh place as sophomore Kelly Kimbis scored 156.85 points and junior Jennifer Weiss scored 152.45 points.
Although both teams battled hard and dominated most of their events, both the girls’ boys’ teams came in fourth among six top tier teams. “We were disappointed in not finishing in the top three but we improved in all aspects and that is what really matters,” Woodward said.
The team is going into the Metropolitan Championships Feb. 16 to Feb. 18 and multiple athletes from the team will compete. “We, as a team, are excited for those who are going to the Metro Championships. They should be proud. It’s truly a high accomplishment,” Qin said.
Maxwell Redding
Staff Writer
