For the RM Swim and Dive team, the victory against Bethesda Chevy Chase is definitely one of the greatest accomplishments of the season. It is safe to say that the RM boys completely destroyed the competition by winning first place in every single event.
The Friday B-CC meet was unusual in a few ways. First of all, it was a makeup that was to be followed the next day by the last meet of the season. It was also held at a weekly practice pool, meaning the meet required the dreaded in water starts.
Despite these hitches, the boys had tremendous success, beating the B-CC boys 117-52. However, the meet also finished with a difficult loss for the girls, 59-112, even though it was an overall team success.
“Everyone adjusted to the in-water starts pretty good,” sophomore Connor Din reflected on their success. “I saw a lot of people cheering at the side so that was great to see.”
Junior Ian McBain dove off the diving board, and earned the first six points for the team with a score of 143.75. Senior Kamryn Umbel followed with another first place win, beating the runner-up by a huge 46 point difference. These two wins would be the first of many in the rest of the meet.
Soon after, the boys swept in 50 freestyle. Seniors Kenny and Greg Afolabi-Brown raced each other instead of the B-CC swimmers, and Kenny finished with just a 10 millisecond difference.
As for the girls, senior swim captain Grace Sun also claimed first place in the girls 50 freestyle. Another victorious swimmer was freshman Sophia Wang, who raced for first in 100 breaststroke and successfully beat the older B-CC girls.
A few other notable swimmers are junior Nefret El-Masry, sophomore Ben Solomich, junior Lexi Dorotinsky, and senior Jonathan Mendley, who all got personal bests despite the difficult pool conditions.
The meet concluded with the 400 free medley relay, one of the most intense and entertaining events of the meet. “Sometimes it feels like a lot of pressure that people count on you,” junior Michelle Li explained. “But it’s good because it motivates you to go faster.” The cheers from the team and relay members were raucous, yet encouraging and pushed the boys relay all the way to first place.
The B-CC Meet was a victorious showing for RM in not only the overall score and the boys’ performance but also the spirit and motivation shown by the entire team. “I think a lot of people felt discouraged and worried that they wouldn’t do well, so we all came together to cheer everyone on,” Li stated.
Featured photo by Ishaan Oberoi.
