On Jan. 29 Trojan Swim and Dive competed in a rivalry meet against Central Senior High School at Humboldt High School’s pool. The final score was 96-90, with each event coming down to a tenth of a second.

Spartan swimmers are in a co-op with Highland Park, and the Trojans, and the co-op maintains a well-balanced representation of student-athletes from each school. Since Highland is in the co-op, this meet was highly contested between two rival St. Paul City Conference schools. Further, the last time the Trojans beat Central was in 2020.

The pool had low, dark lighting making it a long night for swimmers, spectators, and coaches. Still, the energy was high, and Trojan swimmers were excited to compete against their rivals who were expected to win by ten points. Prior to the meet, the Trojans had planned ahead smartly and had trained some JV swimmers to become divers to make up more points on the varsity scoreboard.

Gallery • 16 Photos

Audrey Peltier

GLIDING. Junior Ben Lee dominates in his event.

Swimmer Ben Lee from SPA delivered an outstanding performance, winning first place in the 100-yard butterfly with an impressive time of 59:00 seconds, a personal record in the event. Coaches and other swimmers cheered as Lee glided across the water. Just a fraction of a second behind him, a Central swimmer pushed the pace, finishing at 59:06 seconds, making for a thrilling finish.

From the first dive into the water by JV 200-yard medley relay swimmers to the last event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the two teams battled fiercely, and their points were almost perfectly even throughout the night. Many races were extremely close, such as the 400-yard freestyle relay, which featured two SPA swimmers, Mati Halloran and Finn Cox. The Trojans had finished with a time of 3:37:08 and Central finished just milliseconds behind them in 3:37:32. Similarly, many times had been just milliseconds within each other.

The overall score was 96-90, the Trojans victorious, and they secured the title of St. Paul Conference Champions for the first time since 2020. The meet was full of excitement and camaraderie, leaving everyone eager for the next meet.

The Trojans have their next meet at Humboldt High School on Thursday, where they will compete against Central once more amongst other teams.