Once again, the Beaver Area swim and dive team has had another busy two weeks.
First, some of the team went to Moon High School for the MAC tournament. Then, the entire team travelled to Riverside High School for their last meet of the regular season. Finally, a handful of the boys' team went to North Allegheny in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the WPIAL tournament.
The day before the swimming portion of MACs, February 8, the divers got a chance to show off. Unsurprisingly, senior Andrew Cestra stole the show once again getting first place in the tournament.
In fact, Cestra barely surprised himself.
"I sort of expected to win, but I didn’t expect to win by a hundred points," said Cestra of the victory.
In other Cestra-related diving news, junior Daniel Cestra got seventh place.
While not everyone qualified for the swimming portion of MACs, at a glance, it looked as if the entire team was there, with 80 percent of boys and 50 percent of girls attending.
Overall, the team did well with best times across the board for most who attended. The team placed fifth, tied with Montour.
With their achievements at MACs, morale was running high going into the final meet of the season at Riverside February 13. A win for the boys' team here would have meant not only section champs but an undefeated season.
However, it was just not meant to be. Despite doing well on paper, with almost everyone dropping time off their races, the Riverside boys' team was simply too good for the boys to beat.
They lost 59-40 making them runners-up in the section.
Despite this loss, senior Donald Hare wasn’t disappointed.
"I’m proud of everyone on the team, and we had no business beating half the teams we did, but we worked hard and won as a team. I couldn’t have asked for more," he said.
In some good news, the girls' team earned a close victory, winning 51-43 in an incredibly hard-fought match. They came in fourth in the section.
This was the first time this season when the girls won while the boys lost. Freshman Elstasia Ray was excited by what happened.
"[It felt like] it was our time for the spotlight," she said.
Finally, a handful of the boys' team went to an invitational February 16 among multiple schools at North Allegheny in a final effort to qualify for the WPIAL tournament.
Despite their efforts, only Hare achieved a new qualification, dropping his time low enough to swim the 50 meter freestyle at the tournament.
WPIALs take place March 1.