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The Raider Boys Swim and Dive team had a busy three days to end last week. First, a dual meet against conference opponent Tartan on Thursday then the True Team meet Friday and Saturday. All three days were spent at the Hastings Middle School and the decades old pool, a task not easily pulled off when you consider how small the pool is and that there were multiple teams there on Saturday.

Thursday, the Raiders controlled the meet against Tartan from the beginning, even when the score tied at 31 just before diving. A lot of the Metro East teams are struggling to find divers, especially on the boy’s side. That gives Hastings a huge, 10point advantage in dual meets where the opponent does not have a diver. It is a free 10 points because no matter how the Hastings divers score, they take first and second place points. Hastings ultimately remained undefeated in dual meets this year, winning 95-81.

“For this meet we balanced out all the relays to swim against each other,” said Head Coach Katie McAlpin. “The winning relays earned five-dollar Mc-Donald's gift cards. A fun little extra incentive to race. Swimmer of the meet was Cody Stewart. Cody had best times in all of his events. He cut three seconds in his 50 free and five seconds in his 100 free. Cody took third in the varsity 200 IM and varsity 100 fly. Extra shout outs to Oliver Gergen, Tyler Wood and Alex Culp. Oliver cut seven seconds off his season best time in the 200 free. Tyler cut 10 seconds in his 200 free and seven seconds in 100 free. Alex cut four seconds off of his 100 free from the week before.”

For the True Team meet on Friday and Saturday, Hastings earned the fifth-place spot.

“Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped with the meet,” said McAlpin. “The boys were great hosts. We had a lot of great races on Saturday and excellent diving on Friday. Swimmer of the meet was Alex Culp. Alex cut 1.5 seconds in the 50 free and two seconds in 100 free from Thursday's meet. He also cut two seconds in his 50 breaststroke. Extra shout out to Garrett Watterson, Cody Stewart, Tristan Herbst, Liam Edel and Sammy Green. Garrett dropped 1.5 seconds in his 50 free, Cody dropped six seconds in his 200 free, Tristan broke one min in the 100 fly, Liam dropped two seconds in the 100 free, and Sammy cut four seconds in the 100 backstroke.”

The Raiders are off this week with their next competition being at home on Jan. 26th against the St. Thomas Cadets at 6:00 p.m. which is also parents night.