As the season comes to a close, the seniors look to make one final push and finish the season strong at divisionals.
The meets against BCC (Dec. 17) and Walter Johnson (Jan. 7) were both cancelled due to icy road conditions. After those two scheduled meets, the team faced off against their rival, Churchill, on Jan. 14. Both the boys and the girls’ teams lost, by scores of 102-69 and 126-45 respectively. Although both teams lost, many swimmers performed well.
In the boys’ 200-yard freestyle, junior Eric Lu finished in first with a time of 1:47.11 and in the boys’ 200-yard IM, sophomore Daniel Wang finished in first with a time of 2:03.07. In the girls’ 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of seniors Jocelyn Merkin and Gurbani Singh and sophomores Juliana Parra and Rita Zhang finished in first with a time of 4:09.24.
The meet against Walter Johnson was rescheduled for Jan. 20, and the team came ready to race as the boys picked up their first win of the season (102-69) and the girls fell slightly short by a score of 124-47. “It was a great feeling to get our first win of the season because we worked so hard and it finally paid off,” Lu said.
In the boys’ 200-yard medley relay, seniors Jordan Matus and William Shen and sophomores Aaron Lazar and Wang finished in first as a team with a time of 1:43.53. Lu again finished in first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:45.53 and Lazar finished first in the boys’ 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.22.
In the boys’-100 yard butterfly, sophomore Brian Xi finished in first with a time of 55.73 and in the boys’-100 yard freestyle, junior Jeffrey Qin finished in first with a time of 49.37. In the boys’-500 yard freestyle, senior Alex Li finished in first with a time of 4:46.57 and in the boys’-100 yard backstroke, Lazar finished in first with a time of 56.70. In the girls’-100 yard backstroke, Zhang finished in first with a time of 1:04.25 and in the boys’-400 yard freestyle relay, the team of Li, Xi, Lu, and Qin finished first with a time of 3:29.87.
After a quick turnaround, the team faced Whitman the next day, Jan. 21. The boys’ team lost a nail-biter (87-84) while the girls lost 109-62. In the boys’-200 yard freestyle, Li finished in first with a time of 1:45.13 and in the boys’ 200-yard IM, Qin finished in first with a time of 2:02.50.
Also, in the girls’-50 yard freestyle, sophomore Cece Zhao finished first with a time of 26.06 and in the boys’ 1-meter diving, freshman Quinn Westwood finished in first with a score of 155.70. Qin also finished in first in the boys’-100 yard freestyle with a time of 49.39 and in the girls’-100 yard freestyle, Zhang finished in first with a time of 58.66.
In the boys’ 500-yard freestyle, Lu finished in first with a time of 4:54.63 and in the boys’-100 yard backstroke, Lazar finished in first with a time of 56.72. Finally, in the boys’ 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Li, Xi, Qin, and Lu finished in first with a time of 3:23.07.
In their final meet of the season against BCC on Jan. 28, the boys lost 91-80 and the girls lost 110-61. In the boys’ 200-yard freestyle, Lu finished in first with a time of 1:48.06 and in the boys 200-yard IM, Li finished first with a time of 1:59.40. Also, in the girls 200-yard IM, Parra finished in first with a time of 2:26.94 and in the boys’50- yard freestyle, Qin finished in first with a time of 22.81. Regan Westwood, finished first in the girls 1-meter diving with a score of 164.8.
In the boys’ 100-yard butterfly, Li finished in first with a time of 56.15 and in the girls’ 100-yard butterfly, Zhao also finished in first with a time of 1:06.78. In the boys’ 100-yard freestyle, Qin finished in first with a time of 48.84 and in the boys’ 10-yard backstroke, senior Daniel Chen finished in first with a time of 54.78.
Zhao also won the girls 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.96 and the team of Qin, Lu, Chen, and Li finished first in the boys’ 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.54.
The team’s next meet is regionals on Feb. 17.

Ryan Ullman

Sports Editor