The swim and dive team got their Christmas presents five days early when the boys team finally defeated Quaker Valley after a multi-year losing streak.

After many long years, the boys team finally triumphed over the Quakers, winning by 41 points with a team score of 97-56. However, the girls team did not win, and suffered a loss greater than the last meet, losing by 35 points at 97-62.

In diving, senior Andrew Cestra was joined by several new divers from both the boys and girls team. Additionally, Cestra set a new diving record, even earning a perfect score of 10 from one of the judges; Cestra was visibly excited at his excellent score.

"I wasn’t expecting to set a new record at this meet," said Cestra.

However, freshman diver Nate Grundberg didn’t think he did as well as he could have.

"Personally, I think I stunk compared to practices, but other than that [the win] was a lot of fun," said Grundberg.

In the swimming portion of the meet, spirits ran higher and higher as the

swimmers saw their team win race after race against a team that used to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Additionally, several swimmers achieved cuts for MAC’s, though there were no cuts made for WPIAL’s. Notable MAC cuts include freshman Dmitri Matthias in the 500 freestyle.

Regardless of qualifying for MAC’s, WPIAL’s or not, the QV victory was an accomplishment to be proud of.

"If I won the lottery on graduation day, it still would not compare to the euphoria of beating Quaker Valley," said senior Donald Hare.

"I expected it to be a lot harder when we beat [QV] by so many points. I just thought, 'was that it?' I was just underwhelmed," said a surprised Grundberg about the victory after the emotional build-up that preceded the meet.

Several alumni who were home for the holidays were lucky enough to see their team win against a team they never got the opportunity to beat.

Former swimmer and team captain Anton Bankov said after the meet: "I found it satisfying [to beat Quaker Valley] although the QV team was obviously not as formidable as they were in years past, ironically reminding me of our own team when I first joined."

Sour grapes, Bankov?