By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – For a rebuilding Piranha Swim Team squad, Thursday’s meet against Hill Heights goes down in the standings as a loss. It does, however, stand as the team’s most encouraging performance in some time.

Hill Heights (2-0) captured a 16 point win Monday, 279-263, after a PST rally in the relay events fell just short.

For the Piranhas, (0-2) formerly known as Belle Terre, it represents a huge improvement from its performance against Hill Heights a year ago, a meet that saw the Hurricanes win by 188 points.

PST coach Blaine Tatje credited the work the swimmers have been putting in, as well as the efforts of fellow coaches Hailey Montz and Kelsey Tatje.

“In my book, it’s like a victory,” said Tatje. “It came down to the wire. Hill Heights is always a very good team, so for our swimmers to show the kind of improvement they did and compete like that, it was really exciting for everyone.”

Alexandra Rutledge, Colby Watkins and Sophia Simon led the charge for PST, each capturing three first place victories.

Sarah Lang took two first place wins for the Piranhas, while Kyla Cage, Christopher Hammett, Madison Falgout, Mary Catherine Montz, Colton Duhon, and Sydney Doescher captured a win each.

The teams were near deadlocked after one event, Hill Heights leading 55-53 after the freestyle.

The Hurricanes extended their lead, outscoring PST in the backstroke, 61-47, and in the breaststroke, 61-44.

But the Piranhas shot back, winning the butterfly 42-39 and then capturing the medley relay, 42-28. That made it a 244-228 Hill Heights lead.

The teams tied in the final event of the night, each posting a score of 35 in the freestyle relay.