The varsity swim and dive team has completed two meets this season, with another coming up soon. During their first meet, four swimmers qualified for state, something that has never been seen during the years the varsity swim team has been active. The four swimmers are seniors Rayan Maqbool, Jiahao Luo, junior Sammy Lewis and sophomore Will Willerson. We asked the qualifying swimmers their reactions to the news.

“Once I saw the time I was excited, I helped Will Willerson get out of the pool,” team captain Lewis said. “We were jumping up and down on the pool deck and we were just smiling and happy. We walked up to our coach, and she was screaming as well.”

“We were obviously overwhelmed, it was something that I had been working towards since last year with the team, pretty much we were really happy,” Maqbool said.

“I got out of the pool and hugged my teammates, went up to my coach and my parents and celebrated there, then I went and supported my other teammates,” Willerson said.

The swim team has not had any qualifiers since 2016, according to Lewis, making this a big deal for the team.

“The other guys on the team have been at Darlington for a long time, and they’ve been practicing for a long time so it’s a huge deal and seeing them achieve something they’ve worked towards since their freshman year,” Maqbool said. “It really helped me understand the magnitude of what we’ve done.”

Apart from Willerson, who has qualified for state three times now, Maqbool, Lewis and Luo have just experienced qualifying for state for the first time.

“It feels amazing, this is something I’ve wanted since freshman year. I’ve been aiming for state, it’s usually 100 breast. However, as I’ve progressed, I’ve found out that 200 free relay is the one for me. I have strong teammates, so when I saw that I made state it was an incredible feeling,” Luo said.

According to Maqbool, this is his second year in the United States, second year participating on the swim team, first year on the varsity team, and first swim meet in the United States.

“I feel like we were well trained, and I was ready. It was my first meet of the season, and I did not participate last year. So, this is my first swim meet in the U.S.,” Maqbool said. ”I was obviously nervous, but I feel like we were well prepared. We obviously weren’t expecting to qualify for state in the first meet, but I think we were all expecting it at some point during the season.”