By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

DESTREHAN — After opening up against defending River Parishes Swim League champion LARAYO, Riverlands took on a second straight strong contender in Hill Heights.

The Stingrays trailed after the individual events, but had a chance to pull things out in the relays. Hill Heights was up to the challenge, however, and the teams finished with an even split in the medley and freestyle relay events, netting the Hurricanes a close 296-253 victory at home.

“We battled back and forth from the freestyle event on,” said Riverlands coach Lindsey Eichhorn. “It showed us some things that we still need to work on, and that’s what we’re doing in practice. A close loss is always a learning experience. I thought our kids swam well though. We just lost a tough one.”

Hill Heights outscored Riverlands in three of the four individual events – it led by six after the freestyle, then increased its lead to 120-96 after the backstroke. Riverlands took the breaststroke, 52-51, but the Hurricanes won the butterfly event by 20 to push their lead to 226-183.

Riverlands’ Lauren St. Martin and Grace Richoux each had a huge night, taking three first place finishes

Finishing with two first place wins were Evan Richoux and Mia Oncale.

John Tracy, Jack Chapman, Anna Guidry, Michael Morton, Matt Torres, Maddie Guidry, Shelbi St. Pierre, Albert Hane, Thomas Chapman, Merryn Guidry and Truman Treas round out first place winners for Riverlands.

“We’ve begun with a couple of really challenging meets,” said Eichhorn. “I’m proud of our effort. We’ll clean up the mistakes.”