Amid the roar of cheering spectators and teammates, senior captain Adam Recknagel said the best moment of the boys’ swim meet for him was seeing freshman Hayden Zheng break two previous records in the 200 free and 100 breast.

“(The best moment was) during the meet when Hayden broke two records that he set on his own the previous season.” Recknagel said.

According to head coach Amanda Forsberg, the team performed well despite the 42-51 loss, and numerous swimmers set or broke their best times.

“I feel we did really well. I saw some really good times, faster than where (swimmers) ended last year. Alec Pittman had a best time in the 200 (individual medley), Luke Anderson had his best time ever in the 100 fly,” Forsberg said. “A couple younger swimmers broke a minute for the first time, Brandon Bohanon in the 100 free and Connor Coleman, Zachary Weiser had his best time, and others hit a new lifetime best, Hero Mckee in the 100 fly. So across the board phenomenal, I was very happy.

Senior captain David Salamzadeh said despite event wins, certain placements led to an overall point deficit.

“We did pretty well on almost all events, (but) the problem was we would get first and then second and third would cancel out first, so we weren’t able to gain any points,” Salamzadeh said. “Our 400 freestyle relay at the end was fun, just to get our A relay out there and get a time.”

Sophomore Zachary Weiser said he was pleased with his times and performance, but was looking for more team support.

“I did pretty well, I got some personal bests, so that’s exciting. Overall the team in practice needs to work harder, and the cheering was a bit lacking.”

Salamzadeh said the team was disappointed with the loss, but continues to look toward doing better at the next meet.

“It’s always tough to lose — Hopkins is not a bad team. I think we were going into (the meet) expecting to win, which is kind of disappointing. Our line up maybe wasn’t what it should have been, we got burnt on some races, (it’s) just what happens,” Salamzadeh said. “As a team, we know what happened and we’ll just be working hard to make up for it and get some wins.”

Recknagel said despite the loss, this early meet is a good diagnostic tool for the coaches and team to use to get better.

“It seems as though we did not do as well as we had hoped, but we still put up a good fight and there was a lot of improvement,” Recknagle said. “Hopkins is a lot better than we expected, and it seems like they’ve improved, so this meet will serve to show the coaches what we need to work on, and which swimmers need the most attention.”

Forsberg said she is optimistic to see swimmers are versatile and configurable in meets.

“It was our first meet, so it’s the first time I’m getting times, but it’s nice to see I can swim kids around, they’re not locked in to one event — that’s the end goal,” Forsberg said.

The boys’ swimming team’s next meet is at 5:30 p. m. against Watertown-Mayer on Dec. 19 at Watertown-Mayer High School.