Last night, the boys swim team faced off with Francis Howell and Francis Howell North High Schools at the annual Howell Tri-meet. Although they placed second, behind Howell, teammates like junior Ryan Eilers don’t count the meet as a loss.

“It was a solid meet. North managed to take enough points away from us to where we couldn’t beat Howell. In the end, we swam really well, and we’re going to keep our heads up,” Eilers said.

In a sport where every second counts, and tensions already running high, some tough losses cost the team major points.

“There were a few races where there were two really close finishers. Our swimmers just didn’t touch the wall in enough time. It was close enough at the end where it came down to a tenth of a second. Even though we swam about the same speed the entire race, Howell still beat us out because they finished their races stronger. We did manage to win our 100 breaststroke swim by four seconds,” Eilers said.

The stand out of the night, however, was sophomore Devon Ridout. Ridout placed third in the diving portion of the events.

“North had some crazy good divers. It was almost unfair! But out of the six divers, I took third, which was super cool. I only started diving at the beginning of this season, so I think I did really well,” Ridout said. Ridout’s performance did not go unnoticed by his teammates.

“Ridout had a phenomenal diving night! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dive as well as he did yesterday. He should be really proud,” Eilers said.

The boys next meet is this Saturday, at the Fort Zumalt Relay meet, where they will compete against all the Zumwalt and Howell schools.