RM vs. Whitman 2014: breaths held, fingers crossed. It was clearly a decisive victory for the boys, but the girls were neck-and-neck, fighting for a chance to take home the win. But once the results were announced, the uproar by the winning team was unfortunately not on RM’s side. The Rocket ladies fell short of the Vikings by just seven points, a bitter 82-89 loss.

The RM swim team met at the Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center on Saturday against the Whitman Vikings, desperately seeking vengeance for last year’s disappointing final score. “The meet will be much closer than last week’s meet and there will be lots of close races,” Coach Aryn Wheeler warned the team prior to the meet. “Every point is going to count.”

Unfortunately though, chances were not looking as great as they could have been with a number of top swimmers being lost to the SAT. However, though several club meets were going on the same weekend, most of these swimmers managed to make it to RM’s meet as well. “It shows a lot of commitment to the school team,” said sophomore Christina You. “There were also a lot more teammates cheering the swimmers on and more effort put in by the swimmers.”

The diving portion again kicked off the meet. Only freshman Abram Brown was present from the male divers, but he managed to clutch a 14-point win over the two Whitman divers. For the girls, junior Kamryn Umbel took first place by 24 points, while sophomore Leia Cohen took fourth.

As per usual, the swim portion began with the 200 yard medley relay, always a strong point for both RM’s boys and girls. The boys sped into first by a huge margin and also snatched second place by a tiny fraction of 0.03 seconds. The girls A team also took first place over two closely-trailing Whitman relay teams. At this point, RM was looking great.

But as the meet progressed, history appeared to be repeating itself. The boys continued to distance themselves from their competition, sweeping first-second-third in the 50, 100, and 500 freestyles. In the 100 backstroke, the Rocket boys swept all four top spots. However, the girls just grew closer and closer as the end of the meet drew near. Places were scattered for every event with absolutely no 1-2-3 sweeps by either school. There was no way of telling who would win.

It all came down to the last event: the girls 400 yard freestyle relay. Following a close fight between RM’s A relay and Whitman’s A and B relays, the race was won by the Vikings and the scores were finalized. RM boys won 123-46, while the girls again fell short to Whitman, 80-91.

The Rockets take on Churchill next Saturday at Gaithersburg Aquatic Center, looking to grab two wins over the Bulldogs.