The Oakton Cougars opened the 2019-2020 season at Cub Run Rec Center with dominant wins against the Westfield Bulldogs. The boys won by a score of 208 to 107, while the girls won 184-131.  With 10 swimmers missing for club championship meets, both team’s outstanding depth were on display as every team member raced in an individual event.

The 16-woman freshmen class stepped up with lifetime best swims throughout the meet. Katie Vaughan kicked off the meet by placing second in diving with a Regions qualifying score. Elise Ha followed with a three-second drop in 200 IM. Olivia Williams reached 1:00 for the first time in 100 freestyle and in the next event, Rachael Kim swam a beautifully paced 500 free for a three-second lifetime best. In the final two events of the night Cate Yurko knocked two seconds off her best time and junior, Alexia Moreno, finished the meet by breaking the 1:20 barrier in 100 breaststroke for the first time.

The boys jumped out to an early lead, winning the 6 first events, including a first through fourth sweep in 200 IM and a Regions qualifying performance by Spencer Dearman in diving. Both Derek Liu and Justin Chen broke 2:00 for the first time in 200 freestyle. The freshmen class made their presence felt in their first meet as Andrew Knapp dropped 4 seconds for a lifetime best en route to a second place finish in 200 IM, Sam Kelly raced to his first 24 in 50 free to take sixth, and James Piccolo picked up his first win as a Cougar in 500 freestyle. The meet closed out with impressive swims in 100 breaststroke by Hiro Yoshizaki and Logan Tolbert who dropped over 1.5 seconds and 2.5 seconds respectively from their lifetime bests.