The swim and dive team competed in the state championship last week, with the boys placing 3rd and the girls 5th. The swimming events took place Friday, February 3 at Georgia Tech. Both teams by far exceeded expectations before the meet, as the boys were predicted to end up in 5th and the girls 11th.

Senior Julia Herring got the girls team off to a good start with her 1st place finish at the diving meet on Tuesday, January 31. This was Herring’s fourth consecutive state diving title. Freshman Ryland Gummere finished 3rd in his first high school state championship meet.

The swim and dive season began in November and included dominating wins over rivals such as Marist and Blessed Trinity as well as Westminster, Lovett, Mount Vernon, Dunwoody, and Greater Atlanta Christian

“We swam against BT and beat them, and we beat Westminster in I don’t even know how many years. Everyone on the team was really excited about beating both schools,” said senior swimmer Jameson Chatfield.

Throughout their season, the team has continued old traditions as well as created new ones. 

Sophomore Matteo Brogi said, “We’ve started going to Waffle House after every meet. We usually have to drive around to find one that’s open late, but when we do, we all share a booth and order waffles.”

Traditionally, swimmers will write their events for the meet on their arms with Sharpies, but this year, the team has taken it a step further.

“We have been drawing different jerseys on our backs using Sharpies this year,” said senior Andy Swartz. “First we had poorly spelled soccer players, then for senior night we had NFL quarterbacks.”

Senior Ethan Hudock’s favorite tradition was senior night.

“Seniors are introduced, and we answer a couple questions beforehand about ourselves that they announce. After that, we all jump into the pool together. It is a great tradition and it’s great that we do it at Dynamo, which is pretty much our home pool,” he said.

The week before the state meet, Chatfield talked about the team’s chances after finishing in 4th place last season.

“We don’t have a ton of guys that got state cuts, but the group that did is very strong and can swim multiple events,” he said. “The competition is really good, but we could place highly. Also, the girls team won state last year and has a chance to do it again this year.”

With another season in the record books, the team looks forward to taking some much-deserved rest as they enjoy all that they accomplished this year.