Hard work, best times, and constant loud cheering just weren’t enough to let Woodland boys swimming team pull through for their third win of the season. Though the boys were extremely determined to get the win, they suffered a tough loss against Torrington.

The team started off strong placing second and third in the 200 Medley relay.

The intensity of the meet began to pick up during the 200 free, eight laps of freestyle. Andrew O’ Dell, a freshman, swam in unison next to two Torrington boys for the entire event. Torrington placed first in the event, but O’ Dell tied for second with a time of 2:01.85. “I was excited that I didn’t get third, but upset that I could have won. My coach told me I only lost by a fingertip,” said O’ Dell.

After suffering a few losses in the first events, the team began to win the next couple events. Junior Patrick O’ Dell did a 2:11.57 in the 200 IM, two laps of every stroke, placing first.

Junior Eric Dietz won his event even though he was faced with a challenge. While diving in, his goggles fell off and he was forced to continue on without them. Dietz sprinted two laps of freestyle and got a 24.19.

The next event, diving, helped the team pull ahead even more. The Torrington meet was an especially successful meet for one Woodland diver, senior, Lindsay Boland. Boland, who dives for the boys, had previously held the diving record with a 197.50. At this meet, she was able to beat her own record and place first in diving. She received multiple sevens on each of her dives and scored a 223.

With a quick warm-up, the team’s ambitions began to grow even higher. They were a
head of Torrington by eight points, 51 to 43. “We felt great, but we knew we still had more than half of the meet to go,” said junior swimmer, Jimmy Tompkins.

Woodland continued their winning streak for the next two events, but was then faced with some difficult losses that would cause them to fall behind.

Patrick O’ Dell placed second in the 100 backstroke. Senior Adam Trumbley placed second in the 100 breastroke. Cheering increased going back and forth between the sides. Before the last event began, Woodland was down by four points which meant they would have to place first and second in the final event. But, the team couldn’t pull through.

Woodland’s top relay placed second which wasn’t enough to win over Torrington. Woodland lost 88-98, but Coach Tom Curry was still very happy with the boy’s performance and hopes to beat Torrington in NVL’s. “We’ll have more rest in between events, more time to recover.” The boys are hoping for less snow days and more practice time so that they can defeat future teams.

Photo Credit: http://classroomclipart.com/images/gallery/Clipart/Sports/Swimming_Clipart/24-03-07_03.jpg