The past two weeks have been busy ones for the swim and dive team, with meets at Hopewell, at home against Blackhawk, at Cornell, and South Fayette, each with their own highs and lows.

The meet at Hopewell January 10 was mostly standard for the team with an overwhelming victory for the boys’ team 60-19 but another loss for the girls with a score of 74-14.

The scores at this meet were especially lopsided because Hopewell's swimming pool had only four useable lanes forcing several swimmers on both the boys’ and girls’ teams to not swim as many events as they may be used to.

Additionally, there was no diving board, which means no diving for anyone looking to front-flip into the water at Hopewell.

The meet versus Blackhawk January 14 was the team's first home meet of the season. As a result, many of the swimmers' classmates came to support them in the stands. Fortunately, the Beaver pool contains a diving board, and divers were able to show off what they had been practicing. The most impressive dive of the night, performed by senior Andrew Cestra, got him a perfect ten from both judges present.

Cestra even impressed himself with his performance.

"When I finished the dive I had already picked out things I thought I could’ve done better, but when I got out I saw that I got a ten, so I was surprised," admitted Cestra.

Because the team was expected to do well against Blackhawk, most swimmers swam different events than they were used to in an attempt to get more

qualifications for MACs and WPIALs.

The scores followed the traditional pattern for the season, with the boys winning 96-46 and the girls losing 100-48.

The team hit the road once again to Cornell High School January 17. Cornell also suffered from a distinct lack of diving boards, once again kicking the team's divers to the curb. It was at this meet that the girls finally broke the curse, winning an impressive victory 91-48. The boys also dominated 131-14.

Needless to say, the girls were satisfied with their efforts.

"It was really exciting! It made all the girls more motivated to do better at the next meets," said sophomore Allysan Nunes.

According to Nunes, the girls can expect several more victories.

"If we work hard during practices these next couple of weeks, then we definitely have a chance at winning another meet," she said.

The final meet of the two-week cycle was at South Fayette January 21. While South Fayette is technically a section above Beaver, the team scheduled the meet to test their skills.

However, it seemed that South Fayette's swimmers were too much for both the girls’ and boys teams. The boys fell 100-82 while the girls lost 100-56.

But because South Fayette is not in the team's section, a loss here did not affect Beaver's record for section champions. Currently, the boys’ team record is 5-1, while the girls’ record is 1-5.

The next meet is at home January 28 against Pine Richland. Be there to support the swim team, and make sure to read the ECHO next Monday to check out the results.