The CHS diving team went to the State Diving Championships Feb. 20 at the Eppley Recreation Center, with Elaina Faerber winning the girls diving event. The MPSSAA State swim meet at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex was originally scheduled for the same date but was moved to March 11 due to weather.

The meet consisted of a 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle relay,

200-yard medley relay, freestyle, medley and freestyle relay, 100-yard butterfly, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and a 50-yard freestyle.

“Since the beginning of the year, one of the goals for our girls team has been to win states,” head coach Chris Tappis said. “We have never won a state championship in swimming, so it would mean a lot to get that first state title.”

Going to states has become commonplace for the CHS Bulldogs, but winning is a greater challenge. According to Tappis, the girls team finished 5-0 overall, winning Divisionals, Metros, and Regionals, while the boys team finished 3-2 overall, coming in third at Divisionals, seventh at Metros and fifth at Regionals.

According to swim team captain senior Chris Cochran, most of the state qualifiers practice five to eight times a week, preparing more with their club coaches and teams than the CHS team.

According to freshmen Sanjay Wijesekera the boys have tremendous depth lead by captains Cochran and fellow senior captain Colton Neubauer. The girls team is led by senior captains Rachel Caplan and Elaina Gu.

“The girls team right now is the best they have ever been,” Wijesekera said. “They won the D1 and metros meet untouched and unstoppable.”

The girls team ended up winning their first state title, scoring 288.5 points, while the boys came in 7th.

“Overall we swam really well and had a fun time doing it,” junior Katie Wright said. “It’s great to be a part of such a close team. We really are a family.”