Ann Arbor Pioneer beat Ann Arbor Huron with a victory of 115-71 at Hill Pool on Tuesday, Oct. 20th—a great improvement for the Pioneers, compared to last year, when their rivals, the River Rats, won 95-91. Seven state cuts were made throughout the night. It was clear that neither of the teams were going to go down without a fight when they raced each other into the wall all night, with times that were only hundredths of seconds apart.

From the beginning of the meet, the pool deck was never completely silent. Pioneers and River Rats cheered as they watched the teams race each other in the 200 medley relay. The A Relay from Pioneer—Emily Gunderson, Katie Capelli, Anna Thomas and Brianna Coury—and the A Relay from Huron—Kathy Pan, Laura Deng, Anna Riegger and Adela Baker—both started the meet out strong. Pioneer finished in first place with a state cut. In the next event, Pan from Huron won the 200 IM, with Thomas from Pioneer finishing close behind her in second place. Both girls earned state cuts.

There were no state cuts earned by either teams in the 50 freestyle, although it was a memorable event for Pioneer, taking up most of the top spots with a first place finish by Coury, and third and fourth place finishes by Gunderson and Jenni Krzeczkowski. Baker from Huron raced into second place, less than three tenths of a second behind Coury.

In the 100 free, two state cuts were made, once again by Pioneer’s Thomas and Huron’s Pan, this time with Thomas beating Pan to the wall. Capelli from Pioneer took first place in the 500 free, finishing nine seconds ahead of second place teammate, Carly Nadeau, and 15 seconds ahead of third place Baker. Jewel Huang from Huron dominated the 100 back with a first place finish and state cut, beating both Pioneer’s Coury and Gunderson who followed close behind her.

Jessica Wu from Pioneer earned the final state cut of the night in the 100 breast. Her teammate, Krzeczkowski, came in second place, just eight hundredths of a second ahead of Deng from Huron.

By the 400 free relay, swimmers from both Pioneer and Huron could agree that even though they couldn’t feel their legs, they were still racing into the walls in a final effort to ensure they won the meet. Pioneer’s A Relay won the event, as they did in the medley, and beat Huron’s A Relay by ten seconds. Pioneer’s B Relay came in only four tenths of a second behind them.

When the meet was over, Pioneer’s Coach Stefanie Kerska reminded her team that the hard work that they had been putting in all season, especially these past few weeks, had only just started to pay off.