Saturday night’s swim competition was an explosive tri-meet between Paint Branch, Seneca Valley, and Wheaton. The girls’ team beat Wheaton, but fell to Seneca Valley, while the boys’ team beat Seneca Valley and Wheaton.

Going into the meet, many of the swimmers felt nervous about competing against two teams, but once the competition started, they quickly refocused and many of them swam some of their fastest times.

Regarding her goals for the meet, sophomore Savannah Kunze stated, “To beat 7 minutes on my 500 meter time.” Later, she went on to swim the 500 meters (that’s twenty continuous 25-meter laps) in only 6 minutes, 56 seconds. Swimmer Jack Farias also swam well, crushing the competition in the 200-IM and finishing with a new personal best time of 2 minutes, 17 seconds.

After roughly half the swimming events are over, the diving section begins, offering a relief to tired swimmers and their parents in the audience. PB senior diver Mark Holman won the diving portion of the meet with several high-degree-of-difficulty dives including a front 2 ½ somersault. One of the best parts of the swim team is its vocal support of one another, something that was evident as the night crept toward 9 p.m. and the team’s energy continued at a high volume and high level.