Last Friday, March 16, a group of high school boys from two yeshivot converged at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, home of the Heichal Hornets. A little while later, Heichal walked out with the first ever recorded win in the Yeshiva swim league—history was made.

The final score was Heichal Hornets, 16- MTA SeaLions, 6. Although MTA lost by 10, the meet came down to the last race. The match was split into two sets and one relay race. Each set involved three races of different lengths. The first set, freestyle; the second, breaststroke. Points were awarded based on the length of the race, ranging from one point for the shortest of the three races to four points for the longer of the three. The relay race at the end, worth eight points, was, again, freestyle.

Before the relay race, the Hornets were winning by a margin of two; they accumulated eight points in the first two sets. The SeaLions had six points. Heichal finished first in the relay, took the extra eight points, and ended up winning by 10.

But to be completely fair, the swim match at Heichal was not the yeshiva league’s “first ever.” MTA has a long history and a lot of ancient swag. While working on my dreams of creating a yeshiva league swim league for the first time ever, I noticed a lonely MTA swim jacket hanging up in my yeshiva’s lobby. I’m not sure how old the jacket is—though I am sure who wore it; Martey is written in cursive on the right breast pocket—but it was clear to me then, I wasn’t starting something new. Apparently Frisch once had a boys swim team as well that had been discontinued out of lack of interest about five years ago. I now had a new dream—to regenerate the forgotten boys yeshiva swim league.

But the match at Heichal is only the beginning. We plan on having another match at MTA in the upcoming weeks as well as many more in the future. Heichal and MTA both need the help and interest from other local schools, the MYHSL and others who want to help out by coaching (a great opportunity for college guys who want to make a few extra bucks) or acting as league commissioner. If you have any questions, or would like to help out, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

By Akiva Cooper