By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Lauren St. Martin, Jordan St. Pierre and Matt Torres each won three events to lead Riverlands in one of the closest River Parish Swim League meets in some time, as the Stingrays squeaked past the Sharks by a mere three points, 277.5-274.5 on Thursday night at Riverlands.

“It was kind of overwhelming,” said Lane Gendron, who swam in the team’s 15-18 year old boys freestyle relay in the final event of the night. “I felt like we could have done better and not left it to the end. But it was exciting for everyone.”

Said Merryn Guidry, who swam at the same time in the girls 15-18 relay, “It was nerve wracking, but we pushed through. We knew how close it was.”

Riverlands (2-2) trailed entering the relay events, 211.5-200.5. But the Stingrays outscored the Sharks, 42-28 , in the medley relay, then held serve in the freestyle relay, holding Sun Villa to a 35-35 tie to preserve the victory.

“It definitely boosts morale,” said Riverlands coach Lindsey Eichhorn, who could call the win a birthday present of sorts — she celebrated hers just a day earlier. “It came down to the end, and our kids came through for the win.

“Now, we’ve evened our record. We’ve got a clean slate.”

Grace Richoux, Thomas Chapman and Mia Oncale each captured two first place wins for the Stingrays.

Guidry, Maggie Kippes, Maddie Guidry, Will Torres, Anna Guidry, Jack Chapman and John Tracy rounded out first place individual winners for Riverlands.

Eichhorn had said after her team’s 0-2 start that relays would be a point of emphasis at practice. Now, with her team at 2-2 and fresh off of a meet in which her relay teams came through, she says that the work is paying off.

“I saw a lot of improvement. No silly mistakes,” said Eichhorn. “We practice too hard to have a disqualification take us out of a race. We did a very good job here. ”