The boys swim and dive team finished second at the MPSSAA State Championships Feb. 20 after placing fourth in the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships (Metros) Feb. 6. Girls swim and dive followed up with a third place State title, and a second place Metros finish.
After an undefeated season last year for the girls team, with Metros and State championship wins, and a successful season for the boys team, both teams ended this season with a strong finish.
Leading up to Metros, both teams went undefeated in the regular season. At the Division I Championships Jan. 30, the girls team brought home a first place title and the boys team brought home second. At the Feb. 13 Regional Championships, the girls finished first once again, and the boys finished third.
“I think the team did well because of how we approached dual meets this year,” senior captain Hannah Lindsey said. “We had a plan going into each meet. We saw our strengths and weaknesses as a team and put swimmers in events we knew they would do well in.”
At the boys diving portion of Metros, juniors Mory Gould and Parker Johnston placed first and third, respectively, scoring a total of 45 points for the boys team. In the girls diving competition, senior Brighid Dunn finished third, and senior captain Elaina Faerber finished fourth, combining for a total of 39 points.
During the swimming finals, many CHS swimmers, including Lindsey and juniors Emily Wang and Zachary Einhorn, finished in the top five of most races, ensuring the team’s high overall score.
Although the girls team didn’t achieve its third consecutive Metros win, it did have a few first place finishers at Metros with the girls 200 yard medley relay (Lindsey, juniors Hanan Bandak and Wang and senior captain Katie Wright) and Lindsey’s first-place finish in the girls 100 yard backstroke.
Fifty-three teams come together to compete during this one meet.
“Metros is important because it involves both public and private schools,” Tappis said. “We get to compete against teams that we normally don’t.”
This year, on the girls’ side, Sherwood High School finished first by a wide margin, with an overall score of 376 points, beating CHS’ runner-up score of 302 points.
“I am very happy with the outcome of Metros,” Lindsey said. “We knew this year would be difficult because we lost major points in Finals; however, I think we swam the best we could with the swimmers and divers we had.”
Although some may consider swimming to be an individual sport, meets like Metros require the whole team to work together in competition.
“I like Metros because everyone is there, and when people swim, everyone cheers for each other,” Bandak said. “It’s very exciting and fun.”
According to boys senior captain Lucky Sun, the team worked well together and the team’s success was a “team effort.”
At the State Championships, Lindsey brought home two State titles for the girls team, while Gould and Einhorn each placed first in an event as well.
“There is a large senior class of girls that have accomplished a lot these last years,” head coach Christopher Tappis said. “It was their last hurrah.”