The swim and dive team made a splash at Regionals on Saturday morning, after a quick turnaround from Metros earlier in the week.

The boys placed ninth overall, earning 149 points, while the girls came in sixth with a final score of 208 points. Only four divers competed at Regionals this year: junior Michael Barsky and sophomore Jared Lesley, who came in 7th and 9th place, respectively, as well as girls ninth-placed finisher junior Caroline LaPlante and eleventh-ranked freshman Naomi Douek. 

Senior Alex Vissering and juniors Caroline Rhodes and Jeff Su had led the pack for the Vikes this meet. Vissering placed third in the 100 yard breaststroke, while Rhodes and Su placed second in the 500 yard freestyle.

Rhodes, who typically swims longer distances, said that the race took a lot of strategic planning.

“About halfway through the race, you really start to feel the burn in your legs and lungs and the race becomes a total mind game,” Rhodes said. “You just have to rally and tackle the mental obstacle of the race.”

Though certain individuals swam well, Rhodes attributed the overall underwhelming scores to the fast transition from Metros, their biggest meet of the year.  

“Everyone rests a lot for [Metros] so they can swim really fast. The week after everyone has to get back into training after resting, so people often swim pretty slow,” Rhodes said. “Both the boys and girls were a little bit off our game, considering we were resting all last week.”

For the divers, tough competition hindered the team from placing as high as they’d like, Barsky said.

“On the boys side, Churchill, QO, WJ had national team divers who are incredibly competitive and could easily dive at a Division I college,” Barsky said. “For girls, every single girl was diving at the national team level, which is insane.”

With Regionals behind them, the team is now gearing up towards States next week, their last meet of the season.

“States is a lot less competitive than Metros, which makes it a lot more fun to race,” Rhodes said. “Hopefully everyone can just stay positive and swim fast because that’s what high school swimming is about.”