On March 22, the MVHS swimming team competed against Los Altos HS in their last home meet of the season. Despite the chilly weather and an expected forecast of rain, the Matadors were in high spirits. To honor their seniors for the senior night meet, a gold 2019 sign, along with purple and yellow balloons and banners, lined the black fence.

The swimmers huddled together in two lines by the gate, forming an arch with colorful foam pool noodles. The team’s seniors ran through the arch, wearing matching purple tie-dye shirts and strings of purple bead necklaces, laughing as their team members cheered them on. Parents and family members stood at the other end, applauding and taking pictures. Then, with arms held tightly around each other, the senior members gathered in a circle. They chanted in unison to rally themselves before the start of the meet, breaking off into a fit of laughter halfway through.

Despite technical difficulties with the scoreboard and malfunctioning touchpads, the Matadors came out victorious against LAHS with large score margins for both teams, with the varsity girls scoring 117-68 and varsity boys 120-61. As it was their last home meet, crowds of students, family members and MVHS staff members came out to support the Matadors, cheering from the sidelines.

“Oh, we completely obliterated [LAHS], completely obliterated,” junior Patricia Saito said.

Although Saito felt the MVHS team as a whole had a strong performance, she had qualms about how she performed individually. During the meet, Saito competed in the varsity girls 200 yard and 400 yard freestyle relays, as well as the 500 yard freestyle. She was also assigned to the butterfly leg of the relay, filling in for one of the seniors who had gotten sick before the meet, even though Saito believes butterfly is one of her weak points. In addition, due to the cold weather, Saito slowed down by 27 seconds during her individual 500.

“Personal results, I kind of bombed my races on accident because it was insanely cold and apparently I can’t handle the cold,” Saito said. “I was basically frozen solid.”

Even so, Saito still managed to place third in her individual event. Similar to Saito, sophomore Jacqueleine Liu, who competed in the varsity girls 200 yard individual medley and 200 yard medley relay, felt she had room to improve on her own performance.

“It wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t horrible, so I’m in a state where I’m neither satisfied nor [dissatisfied],” Liu said.

Despite her mediocre performance, Liu notes that the pressure during this meet was relatively low, especially for team members who have already qualified for CCS, which will be held on May 4. However, despite the relaxed environment of the meet, Liu believes the team should still try to improve, even with those who are CCS qualifiers.

“[The team needs to] be more aware because a few people miss their events and just put more effort in,” she said.

Watch the gifs below to see the Matadors compete during their last home meet of the season.