In usual St. Louis U. High fashion, the Swim and Dive team torpedoed through Liberty and Fort Zumwalt West High Schools on Tuesday after trekking up to the clear, crisp waters of the St. Peters Rec Plex.

The meet saw SLUH take first among the three teams, followed by Liberty. Head coach Lindsey Ehret attempted to diversify the meet’s lineup, due to tri-meets having very limited entry spots per event. Some of SLUH’s top swimmers not in the lineup had practice instead, giving room for a wider variety of swimmers to represent SLUH at the meet, especially those who didn’t have the opportunity to swim at the crucial COMO Invitational two weeks ago.

“It was definitely a recovery meet, but it felt good to swim because I didn’t get to swim at COMO,” commented freshman Max Bovengloh.

Like Bovengloh, many of the swimmers still felt in a recovery period, coming off of Hammer Week last week. This week is infamous among current and past SLUH swimmers for having the five most grueling practices of the year.

“It definitely lives up to its name, but it’s been nice to see the boys stepping up and putting in the work,” said senior Joe Zarrili. “By the end of this, (we were) happy it’s over and happy (we) were able to complete it.”

“The unofficial motto of SLUH swimming is ‘grit’, and to get through Hammer Week that is exactly what you have to have,” explained senior Christopher St. John. “If you can get through that, you can get through anything else …  all the way to state.”

Despite still aching from each of Hammer Week’s tough sets, some SLUH swimmers still stepped up for impressive times on Tuesday. St. John swam a new personal best in the 100 freestyle, going 52 seconds. 

“It felt incredible,” said St. John. “I was racing the guy next to me the entire time and by the time I got to the wall, looking up and seeing my teammates cheering really put into perspective how much work we’ve all put into the team.”

Now, the Jr. Bills will take their time to recover and refocus, eyes set on another tri meet between Parkway West and MICDS next Friday.