At 6:30 Monday morning the swim team receives a harsh blow from reality, the weekend is over, and another long week of school has already begun. Wishing that they were still fast asleep in their warm beds, the swim team plunges into the icy water of the sports center pool, with one goal in mind: win ISST’s.

On February 3 and January 20th, the swim team looked to put their hard work into competition in Paris and the annual Hague Invitational. With the Paris meet containing seven ISST teams, and The Hague Invitation featuring six ISST teams, stiff competition from around Europe set up for challenging tasks. The training inevitably paid off, with the Cougars finishing first in Paris winning by twice as much as the second pace team and beating last years ISST’s champions, ISB. Cobham came second behind ISB in The Hague by no more than 15 points, a small margin considering the team was not at full strength. The Varsity Girls and Boys teams won their division convincingly at both meets, setting high expectations for the ISST’s, held in Cobham this March. The Junior Varsity Girls and Boys teams also put in a strong performance at both meets.

In addition, the Cougars got their revenge later that week, beating the Raiders by six points after their first loss earlier that week in The Hague. Cobham had numerous top three finishes, proving to be too strong for their opponents.

Varsity Captains David Lynch and Kendall Thomas along with Junior Varsity Captains Michael Taylor and Gwen Musial, have led the Cougars to just one loss this season. In fact, Cobham has repeatedly beaten ASL by outrageous, almost embarrassing margins, when our lacklustre rivals make the effort to show for meets.

The season continues to look bright, with an unfortunate amount of Monday morning sessions to look forward to.