The magic number for winning a high school swimming and diving meet is 94 points. Once a team becomes the mathematical winner, it swims the remaining events for no points to avoid a lopsided result.
To better judge his team's improvement through meet scores, Centennial girls' swimming and diving coach Chip Fechter asks opponents to forgo such exhibition swims.
He said the results got "pretty ugly" when he took over the Cougars' program five years ago. But the payoff came last week as steadily improving Centennial handed Maple Grove its first loss in nine years of Northwest Suburban Conference dual meets.
Centennial won the meet 101-85 on the strength of its depth. The Cougars took first place in five of the meet's 12 events, but they grabbed three of the five scoring spots in seven events.
Sophomore Anna Udean won the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle. Senior Kaila Chapman won the 100 freestyle and freshman Tara Chapman won the 100 breaststroke. The 200 freestyle relay team of Tara and Kaila Chapman, Udean and sophomore Mira Schroeden also swam to victory.
Fechter said the 200 freestyle, in which the Cougars took spots two through four, was the team's "most critical event."
The victory, Fechter said, gave his program a boost while offering a harbinger of what's to come.
"With the youth we have we're set up to be pretty good for several years," he said.
