In a meet that was close throughout, the Sunny Hills swim and dive team lost against Crean Lutheran High School (boys 86-80 / girls 92-75) in their last league meet of the season on Wednesday, April 15. 

“I think it went really well, and we had some pretty good swims,” head coach Sergio Dorrego said. “We were missing a couple of people who were out sick, which having them here could have helped, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Dorrego said the meet was competitive, winning some events. 

“We did really well in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke, and I feel proud of the effort that all my swimmers put in,” he said. 

While the boys took a loss, co-captain medley stroker and sprinter senior Cheney Mo said it was a high-stakes meet, in which the winner could be determined by a single event. Mo said the boys had a chance to win if they placed second and third for the last event, the boys 400-yard freestyle relay. 

Mid-distance and flyer junior Troy Jung said even though he thought the team had a good fight overall, he didn’t think he was able to perform at his highest level. 

“I was kind of disappointed with the 50-yard freestyle, but with the 500-yard freestyle, it wasn’t as bad because this was my first time swimming for that,” Jung said. 

Mo said, despite the loss, he is very happy with the result.

“I wasn’t expecting the game to be this close,” Mo said. “It was an anomaly that we were that close in general and for us to even be able to have a chance to win.” 

The head coach said that despite the team’s skills, competing in the top league and having younger swimmers than last year made the season more challenging. 

“We got put against hard teams, and we’re a young team,” he said. “It was more like freshmen and sophomores going against juniors and seniors.”

For the girls, who also took a loss, it was a relatively close meet throughout, but after the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team started to go downhill, said co-captain freestyler senior Eveline Grannis. 

Grannis said the girls still did their best. 

“I think the amount of training and effort all the girls have put into practice really helped them this meet,” Grannis said. “I saw a lot of improvements with some of the girls’ strokes, and I believe there were some really good times this meet.” 

The co-captain said she was a little disappointed with this meet’s results, but feels proud of what the girls accomplished this season.

“I was kind of upset over the loss since we were expecting to win, and this league is a lot tougher this year,” she said. “But I think we should keep working hard and trying our best.”

As a senior who will be graduating in May, she said she was shocked by how fast the season went by. 

“Even though it’s the last meet, there’s kind of a mixed feeling because I’m happy that our season is coming to a close and that graduation is getting closer, but I’m also kind of sad since this will be my last league meet ever in high school,” she said. “However, I’m really happy with this season even though it’s been a rough year for us, and I’m excited to see what the Lancer girls will accomplish in the next few years.”