Francis Howell Central Boys Swim and Dive team participated in the Jaguar Invitational on September 22nd. The Jaguar Invitational is known for their harsh competitors, but more importantly, their t-shirt relay. Every team competes in a relay where four brave individuals swim through the water in a t-shirt one after another. The hardest part, removing the wet t-shirt from one swimmer and putting it on the next, is a fun challenge taken very seriously by the swimmers.

The Jaguar relay tests teamwork among the swimmers, and helps them bond in more ways than imaginable. Competing with their teammates to win something bigger than their own race made the swim members closer and strengthened their bond.

“It’s a fun event that we were all able to bond at,” Ty Nedungadi said.

The Jaguar Invitational was one of the first big meets this year for Central. With over ten teams competing, this meet was very different than previous tri-meets.

Unfortunately, the team had two team members that were unable to attend due to illness.

“Kyle Clauser had a ruptured eardrum and Chris Bisset was sick, so we had to scratch some of our events,” Andrew Lippincott said.

“With three of our events scratched, having two people gone, we got 6th overall,” Nedungadi said.

With unfortunate circumstances, the team was still able to complete the meet and place 6th. Placing 6th at a meet with so many fantastic teams is an impressive feat for the Central swim team.

The swim members were satisfied with both their individual performances and the team’s performance as a whole.

Sophomore Ben Pugh was particularly happy with his swimming.

“I did good in my relays. Everyone thought they did really good” Pugh said.

The environment of this meet was different than most previous meets. There were many more teams than typical meets and there was a lot more going on at this meet.

“It’s much larger, it’s a lot busier so it’s not as competitive personally” said Pugh.

With so many teams competing, there wasn’t as much pressure on each swimmer personally, but they still each had to compete at their best to get the team to do as well as possible as a whole.

For updates on the boys swim team results, click here for MSHSAA standings.