On Saturday, Dec. 5, the Raider Swim and Dive team participated in the Forsyth Central Holiday Invitational. The event was located at the Cumming Aquatic Center and lasted from 12-5 p.m. North Forsyth women won first place and North Forsyth men came in third place. The combined score put North in second place behind Denmark High School.

A total of nine teams competed, which is the most teams North has gone up against so far. The teams that participated were Denmark, Starr’s Mill, West Forsyth, Greenbrier, Mount Vernon, North Gate, Newnan and, the host, Forsyth Central. For North, warm-ups started at 10 a.m., and the diving competition took place the night before the meet on Friday, Dec. 4.

Throughout the meet, Raider swimmers showed the other schools what all they were capable of doing in the water. Senior Hailey Galbraith won first place in both the Girls 50 Yard and 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, scoring 20 points, which contributed to North’s overall win. Sophomore Abigail Hutcheson gained second place in the Girls 50 and 100 Yard Freestyle Relay, scoring 34 points. Senior Logan Cornelison earned first place in the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay, Boys 200 Yard Freestyle and Boys 500 Yard Freestyle, scoring 40 points—the most points in the meet. 

Assistant Head Coach, Lennox Balog, expressed how proud she was of the Swim and Dive team. “I am so impressed with the progress our team has made this year. Second overall is a huge success for us, and I am so proud of the team!” Balog also commented on the swim squad’s strengths and weaknesses. “Our greatest strength is showing up at meets ready to race. Our swimmers know how to compete and race against the swimmers in the lanes next to them. We can improve on some of our techniques like our starts, our breakouts and our turns. Working on these aspects of a race may seem small, but they can be where the next time drop comes from.” Balog continued on saying, “Our team showed up ready to compete! We had almost our entire team at this meet—this meant more points for us and it also boosted the team’s morale when the entire team was together.”

North winning second place is a huge accomplishment. The Raider Swim and Dive team will have one more swim meet before Christmas break, which will be on Saturday, Dec. 19.