On November 30, 2023, the Spartan boys Swim and Dive Team defeated the Lincoln Southwest Silverhawks, in the season opener and rival matchup. The boys team blew the Silverhawks out of the water, winning 117-70.

The competition between the Spartans and Silverhawks is highly anticipated each year, and freshmen had big shoes to fill, with last year’s victory. The Spartans lost many top performers from last year, and the entrance of this freshman class was highly anticipated by all. Freshman Eje Kim was one of the top scorers for the team, earning 10 points for the Spartans.

“It was a really great meet to start off my freshman year,” Kim said. “I felt a lot of pressure to swim fast, and it helped our team perform really well. We basically doubled their score and we placed really high in all of the relays.”

The boys and girls teams both won, and this year’s meet will go down in history as the first win on both sides in over 10 years. Head coach Uriah Reiners expressed his excitement in experiencing a girls and boys win for the first time in his coaching career at East.

“I thought the Spartans performed amazingly against Southwest,” Reiners said. “I went back and compared a lot of the times from last year’s dual to this years, and most of us were significantly faster. With the win, the boys team has basically secured the city champs title, and girls have a great chance at winning it as well.”

Hopes for the rest of the season are high. Both the girls and boys are working to defend their conference titles from last season, the boys are even in the running for a state title, which hasn’t been done since the 1987-88 season.

Lincoln East 117, Lincoln Southwest 70

Diving– Muiu, East, 206.70; 200 Medley Relay– East (Kim, Agnew, R. Frederick, Hoesing), 1:38.21; 200 Free– Wilcynski, Southwest, 1:49.79; 200 IM– Carter, East, 2:03.13; 50 Free– Kolb, Southwest, 22.02; 100 Fly– Kim, East, 55.29; 100 Free– Kolb, Southwest, 49.00; 500 Free– Carter, East, 4:48.08; 200 Free Relay– East (Hoesing, Kim, Watkins, Carter), 1:31.34; 100 Back: Kassebaum, East, 56.18; 100 Breast– Agnew, East, 1:00.30; 400 Free Relay– Southwest ( Wilcynski, Miranda, Frye, Kolb), 3:16.78.