by Megan Cassella Sports Editor _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ From the classrooms to the tennis courts to the softball fields, Atholton students have recently been finding success wherever they are. On April 25th, students competed in a different type of venue: the swimming pool. Students from all grades and skill levels gathered at Howard Community College’s fitness center to compete against other Howard County teams at the annual inter-county meet. Despite taking home the first-place trophy for the past five years, the team faced tough competition and adversity and ended this year’s meet in fourth place, trailing first-place Wilde Lake by 95 points. “It didn’t work out the way I had hoped, since we had won the last five years in a row,” Senior Captain Matt Fitzenreiter said of the meet. “I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t get the job done.” Although the statistics may not show it, the Raiders managed to hold their own in the meet. Fitzenreiter placed first in both of his individual events and tied as the meet’s highest scorer; the Boys 200-yard Freestyle and Medley Relays took first and second place as well. The girls found similar success in their events. “Even though we don’t have a lot of swimmers, the ones we do have are the best,” Junior Gina Eichert said of her teammates. Despite the talent the Atholton team boasted, they were also greatly disadvantaged by the sparse number of students who came out to participate in the meet. Regardless of the talent on the roster, it is nearly impossible for a team to rack up enough points to win without having an adequate number of swimmers. “Our biggest competition [was] definitely Wilde Lake,” said Freshman Kyle Courtney. “They brought a lot of swimmers, and that’s how you win.” Wilde Lake had a strong showing, racking up points in almost every event. However, the small number of participants was not a result of lack of effort on the recruiting end. While team captains distributed forms and advertised the meet as they always do, a combination of poor timing and tough losses posed a difficult obstacle for the Raiders. “A big factor in the team not being as successful as we have been in years past is that we were missing a lot of kids that were on the [music] trip. There were kids that were on that trip that could have scored a significant number of points for us,” Fitzenreiter commented. “We also had a bunch of kids graduate last year who played a big part in winning the meet the past few years.” Despite the loss, the team still achieved their primary goals, and everyone had fun. While some swimmers were satisfied with winning certain events, others were happy that they had come out to participate and did their best. Courtney also enjoyed the meet for his own reasons. “I haven’t been swimming for a while, so I’m just excited to get back into the water,” he commented. While they didn’t leave with a first-place trophy as they had in years past, members of the Atholton team were still pleased with their performance. “I would say that the team did pretty well at the meet,” Fitzenreiter said. “I felt like we swam as well as we could have with the swimmers that we had. With that being said, it was still tough losing this meet for the first time in my four years at Atholton. It’s unfortunate that the winning streak had to end this year.” Although the seniors may be disappointed that they had to end their high school careers without a trophy, the team nonetheless found success in other ways. The winning streak may have ended for this year, but the returning members are confident that there’s always next year to keep the tradition going. |