Junior Eric Devore swims freestyle. (Inji kang’19)

The CA boys swim team rolled into its second week of the season with two home meets on Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9.

Friday was a duel meet against Delaware Hayes. Jack Campbell’19, Max Dreisbach’18, Mike DeAscentis’ 17, and Eric DeVore’19, started the boys off with a win after racing a 2:00.41 in the 200 medley relay. The hot start continued with Dreisbach and DeAscentis dominating the next two events. Later in the meet, Devore, Luke Tiberi’18, and Zach Zhou’18 placed first, third, and fourth, respectively in the 500-yard freestyle. Then, Campbell, Dreisbach, DeAscentis, and DeVore competed in the 400 freestyle relay and won the competition by 15 seconds.

The following day, CA hosted relays with Delaware Hayes, Gahanna Lincoln, Westerville North, Bexley, and Wellington. A relay meet has no individual events, but instead is full of many different relay combinations.

Throughout the whole meet, the Viking and Gahanna Lions were neck and neck for first place. In the 200 freestyle relay, Harry Zaye’18, Ethan Nankervis’19, David Barren’19, and DeAscentis, snatched first with a 1:39.55. But in the 300 medley relay, Dreisbach, Tiberi, and Jacob Beck’19 fell short and were forced to settle for second place behind the Lions. This back and forth carried throughout the meet, which ultimately came down to the final event.

The 400 freestyle relay was the deciding race. Academy swimmers Devore, Nankervis, Campbell, and Dreisbach had to win and the Lions had to place fourth or lower for the Vikes to win the meet. That is exactly what happened, and CA pulled out a narrow victory, edging the Lions by 2 points.

The squad looks to build on its momentum at the Ned Reeb Memorial Invitational on Saturday, December 16.