As their season comes to a close, the girls swim and dive team has gone undefeated for months, maintaining an eight-meet winning streak.

One of the Tigers’ most recent wins was at the Jane Caliendo invite near Chicago, scoring 271 points total.

“We definitely weren’t expecting to win at Jane Caliendo,” sophomore Georgia Samet said. “We’ve never won that meet before and there is more competition [in Chicago].”

Following these successes was the Swim for Hope meet, an annual fundraiser for cancer research, once again ending in a win for Edwardsville.

Their seven-meet winning streak continued on into Thursday’s senior night meet against O’Fallon.

The meet opened with a tribute to the team’s only senior, Pera Onal. Junior Karis Chen has been on the team with Onal all throughout high school, making for an emotional senior night.

“She’s [always] been one of my best friends and such a supportive teammate, always there for you and cheering you on,” Chen said. “So it’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to her after this year.”

The team then competed in 12 events against O’Fallon, winning 110-69.

Following Thursday’s win, Chen said she sees similarities with last season.

“We did really well last year at meets and ended up winning sectionals,” Chen said. “We haven’t lost a meet yet this year, so I’m hoping we can keep being successful at sectionals and qualify for state.”

In preparation for sectionals, Chen said the team will begin to taper soon, a process of relaxing on their sets and focusing on stretching.

“The week before our target meet, usually sectionals, we will lower yardage and focus on specific race preparation,” coach Christian Rhoten said. “When it comes down to it, ‘taper’ is a fancy word for rest used so that athletes are in peak physical condition to perform at a certain meet.”

But sectionals isn’t the only thing on their minds. 

“I’m hoping we win the meet, but also get as many people as possible to state,” Samet said.

The state meet will take place on Nov. 10 and 11.