Diving off into their first meet of the season on Sept. 19, the Mavericks swam against Westwood and Anderson high schools. McNeil placed first in three events: diving, 500  freestyle, 200 IM (individual medley) and in multiple heats

“It went well,” senior Josh Harris said. “The freshmen and sophomores did especially well. They were the stars.”

Freshman Yeraldin Ruiz placed first in the 500m freestyle with an impressive lead. Ruiz finished with a time of 5:56:39, a lap ahead of the other swimmers.

“I think a lot of people improved their times,” junior Samaura McCloe said. “I did good especially for the first meet, though I felt nervous for it.”

It was not just the sophomores and freshmen who did well, the upperclassmen did, too. Harris came head-to-head with a Westwood swimmer in the third event. Harris came in second with a time of 2:25. Harris placed second in the fourth heat of the 100m freestyle event.

“I haven’t reached my best time,” Harris said. “But it went well enough with me being out of shape.”

The Mavs realized they must get their bodies used to working out in the water again, and to practice hard to pass their seed time (the swimmer’s best time they had previously set in an earlier event), or beating the seed time they set this recent meet.

Also, the team realized improvements need to be made, especially on turns.

“We’re still getting back into shape,” Harris said. “We’re tired but still looking forward to racing.”