This past weekend, the Aqua Vikings seemingly never even had a chance to come up for a breath. Competing on Senior Night, Friday, January 18th, setting new-season bests Saturday morning, and practicing long hours on Monday in preparation for upcoming meets, the team demonstrated dedication to the sport as well as key strides in improvement.

While honoring seniors last Friday, swimmers raced against Gahanna, winning 103-67 for the girls and suffering a defeat of 71.5-94.5 on the boys’ side. Strong performances for both teams swept across the board as many new personal bests and goals were achieved.

Sprinting in the 50-yard freestyle, Abby Brown’13, Sydney Brault’16, and Lexie Eagleson’13 racked up the top 3 places, winning first, second, and third, respectively. Additionally, Anya Kone’15 won the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle while helping the 400 freestyle relay place first. Brown, contributing to her usual caliber, also triumphed in the 100 breaststroke and helped bring her 200 freestyle relay to victory in a time of 1:48.51.

On the boys’ side, Senior leaders Andy Li and Alec Wuorinen along with Junior Mitchell Dreisbach worked hard to rally their small squad and to tame the Lions. Wuorinen came in second in the 200 freestyle, barely edging out his rival and continued to combine forces with Li, Dreisbach, and Oliver Kornberg’16 to take first in the 400 freestyle relay. Li blew away all competition in the 50 freestyle, taking the victory by almost two seconds in a time of 25.53, and furthermore, snuck by another win in the 100 backstroke. Though the team fell on Friday night, the following morning, the boys’ team rebounded with an impressive victory over Canal Winchester, Bloom Carroll, Fairfield Christian, and Village Academy.

Despite a long weekend of swimming, the Vikings still press forward. Today, Tuesday, January 22, in its own pool, Academy will meet DeSales and Madison Christian head to head at 4:30 PM. Go Vikes.

Written by Margaret Sutton’14