With just one length to go of the boys 400 yard freestyle relay, junior Matt Nguyen was trailing Churchill’s Lucky Sun by just a fraction of a second. By the time they were at the flags, the two were neck-and-neck. The cheers from the pool deck were deafening as Nguyen slammed into the wall, edging out a first place finish, 3:23.43 to Churchill’s 3:23.78.

It was a satisfying conclusion to Saturday’s otherwise disappointing meet, as the Rockets ended up losing 66-105 on the boy’s side and 67-104 on the girl’s side.

“Churchill put up a really fast meet,” said freshman Lauren Zhou. “Plus we had a bunch of people missing for [other meets such as] Holiday Invitational or Tom Dolan.” Sure enough, a shocking number of Richard Montgomery’s top swimmers were absent on Saturday, opening up large holes in practically every single event.

Many swimmers had no choice but to compete in off-events, and relays were comparatively weaker than normal due to so many people missing. In addition, the competition pool, Gaithersburg Aquatic Center, was widely referred to as a “slow pool.” It was a common complaint that the walls were too high and slippery (making turns very difficult), the air quality was poor, and it was extremely cramped and stuffy inside.

Because of the lack of space, only six lanes were available as opposed to the normal eight (and sometimes ten). This meant that there were no “exhibition swimmers,” swimmers that compete for a time but are not scored. Therefore, a lot swimmers who typically competed exhibition did not show up, making the level of team spirit and cheering fall low.

Though the general consensus was that it was not the best meet in the world, it was not all bad. There were still phenomenal swims and dives put up from time to time, as is for any weekend. Notably, junior Kamryn Umbel took the win for the girls diving events over a very strong selection of Churchill divers. From the swimmers, junior Matt Nguyen won all three of his events–two individual and one relay. Other individual event winners included freshman Connor Din, senior Helen Kent, junior Jonathan Mendley, sophomore Nefret El-Masry, and junior Maddie Liu.

Next week, the Rockets take on the B-CC Barons at Martin Luther King, Jr. Aquatic Center. With the whole team present and ready to swim, there is a good chance that RM will be able to make a jaw-dropping comeback.