Although the heart and attitude was there, the points were not in the swim team’s favor on Tuesday. The team lost to Francis Howell by 17 points, the second loss in its nine meets. According to sophomore Hayley Lechner, the team went into the meet optimistically.

“We went into the meet with a positive attitude, hoping to win,” said Lechner.

The swim team underestimated the Howell’s skills and the level of competition Howell would bring to the meet.

“We didn’t take first place in as many events as we thought we would,” said Lechner. “They had really strong swimmers in every single race, which we weren’t expecting.”

Considering the intense rivalry between these two schools, this was quite a blow to the girls. However, according to Lechner, they stayed positive and encouraged each other.

“The team was kind of sad and upset after losing to Howell, but we were all very proud of each other for all the work that night,” said Lechner. “We all tried our best and swam our hardest.”

With GAC’s coming up next week, this loss is just another motivation for the team to keep working hard and giving it all their best.

“I think this will make us work harder and make us push ourselves more at GAC’s next week,” said Lechner. “We will definitely want to beat Howell.”