On February 11, the HB boys and girls swim team competed at the Division 2 State Meet at the University of New Hampshire. The boys finished  9th out of 21 teams and the girls finished 12 out of 22. The team was happy with where they placed, considering the team only had 6 individuals qualify for the meet, plus a few more swimmers for the relay races.

HB had some notable performances from their swimmers, with multiple top 10 finishes from both girls and boys. On the boys side, senior captain Amit Eshed who finished 9th in the 100 yard fly and 9th in the 100 yard breaststroke.  The relay team of Eshed, Jamison Muckstadt, ‘18, Mitchell Cochran, ‘20, and Alex Meagher, ‘19 finished 6th in the 200 yard medley.

For the girls, sophomore Maya Ruvido had the best individual performance. Ruvido finished 4th in the 100 yard freestyle and 2nd in the 100 yard backstroke. The girls relay team of Ruvido, Mary Martin, ‘20, Siobhan Rogers, ‘17, and Morgan MacMillan ‘17 had some solid performances. The team finished 12th in the 200 yard free relay and 11th in the 200 yard Medley.

Despite the meet being at UNH, the team still had plenty of support. The entire swim team went to the meet to cheer on their teammates, as they have been all year. According to MacMillan, at every meet the swim team would always stand at the end of the lane to cheer on their teammates during each race. “We were a really close team,” said MacMillan, “everyone always came to do their best at every meet.”

One of Eshed’s favorite memories of the year came in the last meet before states when swimmers had to make to beat the qualifying time to go to the state meet. MacMillan took her turn to qualify for the 50 yard freestyle: “Everyone was cheering Morgan on as she swam. We all really wanted her to qualify for her states. She was able to beat the time and the whole team was excited for her,” said Eshed.

Looking toward next year, Eshed believes the team will still be competitive. “This year we had a bunch of new simmers, so it took a little for them to learn everything. Next year they will have a year under their belts and hopefully they don’t get discouraged and keep on working.”