The swim team lost to the Churchill Bulldogs in its second official meet of the season Dec. 8 at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center. The boys lost with a score of 104-53, and the girls 97-59.

Both teams took a heavy blow, with many swimmers absent as they participate in the Tom Dolan Invitational for their year-round club teams. Some top Whitman swimmers that weren’t present include seniors Audrey Gould, Patrick Scordato, Charlotte Meyer and junior Sarah Kannan.

“They give us really big points and are huge contributors, so that really hurt us,” senior Amanda Kuhn said. “It wasn’t a very accurate representation of what we can do.”

However, the swimmers that were in the meet did well, having break-out performances and attaining best times. The Vikes dominated in events such as the 200-meter Individual Medley with senior Ben Bouvier to win it for the boys and junior Lisa Deng for the girls, but Churchill had the upper hand in many other events.

The next times that the Vikes will face off against the Bulldogs will be in divisionals and they’ll be looking for revenge.

“It was a tough meet for us to lose, but I think that if we do the same thing along with the swimmers that we missed, we have a shot at beating them,” Kuhn said.

In their next meet, the Vikes will face off against the Richard Montgomery Rockets at the Takoma Park Aquatic Center at Montgomery College Dec. 15.