Whitehall’s swim team split its meet with Freedom on Dec. 18 when the Zephyr girls defeated the Patriot girls, 95-76, and the Patriot boys defeated the Zephyr boys, 107-69.

Greta O’Brien, Jenna Giedl, Kendall Bashore, and Bella Molina opened the meet with a 2:09.43 victory in the 200 medley relay.

O’Brien went on to win the 200 IM with a time of 2:37.91, and Bashore took first place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.24.

Whitehall’s girls led 33-23, but after the diving event, Freedom’s girls were tied with the Zephs, 33-33.

Kyra Giedl then won the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:14.1, O’Brien swam to a first place finish in the 500 free with a time of 6:21.79, and Bashore won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:17.83, out touching Freedom’s Laney Stewart.

“I knew it was gonna be close,” Bashore said. “She came up to me before the race, talking about our times and stuff, but I just went for it. Off my third lap coming back, I knew I was ahead of her. That was a best time, better than last year’s time.”

In the 200 free relay, Kyra Giedl, Molina, Jenna Giedl, and O’Brien took first place in a close finish with a time of 1:58.34, and in the 400 free relay, Ryann Giedl, Zoe Kreiner, Kyra Giedl, and Bashore came in first with a time of 4:22.76.

In the boys meet, Johnny Stinner won the 50 free with a time of 24.02, and Cameron Herring out touched Freedom’s Aiden Schankel in the 100 free to win with a time of 56.08.

“It felt like a pretty standard swim, and I didn’t even notice it was that close because I breathe on my right side, and I really tried to focus on the finish, and it paid off because it came down to the touch of the pad,” Herring said. “It was a great feeling, but [Schankel] said it was a great race, and I know that feeling of how close it can be and losing, so I kind of felt bad. That’s how swimming can be. It all comes down to seconds.”

Whitehall coach Emma Billings was especially happy with Stinner’s 50 free, having gone 24 low, as well as Griffin Werner’s 500 free, having dropped about 17 seconds, and achieving a personal best time.

“[The meet] was really fun and really fun to put together, and it was really fun to get the kids excited about what they had to swim,” Billings said. “They came together, and there was a lot of cheering, and I really liked their positive attitude all the way through. We kind of knew, going into backstroke, that the boys weren’t going to win, but they were all still so positive.”