The crowd is watching the diver on the board. Two bounces on the board and then the diver is good. The crowd breaks out in applause once they surface.

On Friday night, Dec. 9, the McLean divers compete against the Langley ones. The competition was held at Spring Hill and it was the first one of the 2019-2020 season. The energy was high at the meet due to the the rivalry between the two teams.

“The atmosphere of the meet was really fun because the swimmers sat along the sidelines to cheer on the divers, which really amped up the energy of the competition,” diver Zazi Halla said.

For dive meets, the four girls and four boys each perform 6 different dives. Depending on the dive type and performance, the judges give the divers a score of 1-10. After the dive meet finishes, the swimmers begin their warmup and then the swim meet begins.

The McLean swim and dive team ended up with a girls score of 141.5 and a boys score 141.5 as well. The Highlanders tried their best, but ended up losing as the Saxons achieved a score of 173.5 for the girls and 172.5 for the boys.

“While it may not be the result we were hoping for, this is a great starting point for the rest of the season,” Head Swim and Dive Coach Kyle Drake said.

Aside from the score, a couple divers were able to qualify for postseason meets. The regionals requirements for girls dive is obtaining over 200 points. Both Zazi Halla(248.30 points) and Sarah Wood(215.05) scored high enough to qualify for regionals. 

The McLean divers also placed pretty well against the Saxons. Halla won for the Female 1 Meter 6 Dives, Wood got third, and the other two female divers achieved fourth and seventh. On the boys side, the four boys got third, fourth, fifth, and sixth places.

“[The team] is looking forward to continuing on with our dual meets and preparing for the bigger competitions that are further down the road,” Halla said.