The JVDAST swam a competitive meet against Bement on this snowy, sleepy Wednesday. Sickness has hit the team hard this week, leaving us 7 swimmers shy of a full roster this afternoon. The comfort of our home pool (this being our first home meet of the season) only went so far, as news of new absences was hitting our emails up until the swimmers were in the water. We were extremely proud of the flexibility and resilience of the swimmers who were at the meet today, as they quickly adapted to a new lineup posted moments before the start of the meet. Some strong finishes from the meet include Clark Hess’s first place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke and second place finish in the 200 yard freestyle, Julie Yan’s second place finish in the 100 yard IM, Yong Ding’s first place finish in the 500 yard freestyle and his second place finish in the 50 yard freestyle, and Melody Zhao’s first place finish in the 50 yard butterfly. Our 200 yard freestyle medley swimmers, Melody Zhao, Julie Yan, Clark Hess, and Jazmine Wilson Bigornia, also had an exciting first-place finish. Edie Huffard deserves special recognition for her consistency and positivity in the midst of an extremely challenging set of swims in the second half of the meet. Perhaps the most exciting detail of the meet was the addition of a few all-star swimmers that stepped in at the last minute to fill gaps in the lineup. This crew included one of our team managers, Eddie Andrews, and divers Joshua Graham and Jewel Suh. Both Eddie and Joshua took home first-place finishes in their respective events! The team also enjoyed an outstanding performance from our divers where Svetlana Deshpande took first place, Casey Lee took second place, and Joshua Graham took third place. Our team had great spirit, enthusiastically cheering one another on throughout the meet. We’re excited to swim again on Saturday, 2/1, at Eagle Hill, 11am.