The rivalry between the boy’s swim and dive teams from South and North has long been a competitive and intense one. Tensions rose leading up to their annual meet day, and both teams laid on the pressure by posting strong content directed towards each other. As the Norsemen made their way to Blue Devil territory on January 25, the intensity continued to heighten.

South captain Drew Vandeputte ’22 says his night was bittersweet. He was excited for his last months of swim and also sad to leave his team because to him it’s more like a family.

“These past four years have been an amazing experience,” Vandeputte said. “I have had many great accomplishments and memories with this team. I’m excited to see how we perform at states this year. I think putting in the work is gonna have to come first.”

Vandeputte also says that going against the Norsemen is always a fun meet since the team is filled with such great swimmers.

“Many races were close, and we lost in a couple events such as the 500 and 200 free,” Vandeputte said. “I give North credit for being such a small team with very talented swimmers, and being able to perform at such a high level.”

The South team made a contribution to the Norsemen and their accomplishments because they didn’t get to have their chance to be recognized for all their hard work last year.

“I really liked that we were able to give the Norseman their fair share of glory during senior night because they deserved every bit of it,” Vandeputte said. “ I felt like we were all one team together, competing together.”

Although the rivalry between the opposing schools can get competitive at times, it’s clear that both swim teams have mutual respect for each other. After all the screaming and cheering as the boys swam, a group photo was taken of both teams at the very end of the meet, along with a group cheer.

“The rivalry between us and North honestly just makes the swim meet more fun and entertaining since deep down we all know it’s just for fun,” Flynn Mackrell ’23 said. “It was really cool to race my friends that swim for North, and I really enjoyed our one GP chant at the end of the meet that we did with North.”

Swimmer Ben Bryan ’24 says that the rivalry is not huge between South and North because of the team size South is always favored to win.
“They do have some pretty good swimmers,” Bryan said. “But because of the team size it’s hard for North to win against us. We have been beating them for years.”

As for the next upcoming months, Bryan says training is crucial and up to the boys whether they take the opportunities or not and what will be their biggest rival this season.

“There is definitely a select few putting in significantly more work,” Bryan said. “Our head coach John Fodell is providing every opportunity to improve and see if the kids will take it. That being said, training has been going pretty well. Our biggest rival this season will be U of D.”

With that being said, the boys are very anxious for the next months ahead, and are ready for the challenges that await.

“Going into these next weeks it is important that we work as a team,” Vandeputte said. “I think this is going to be a very exciting time for us. I can’t wait for the outcome.”