There’s no better time than the holidays to bring together past and present. Lewiston High School took this into consideration and on Tuesday, December 30, the alumni from Lewiston High School Swim Team battled it out with the current day swimmers. Now, with Lewiston’s present coach being an alumna, there was sure to be competition in the pool. Races were competed in and rivalry was apparent, but through the rush of it all, reunions were had and memories aroused, especially the memory of Shannon Fortier, for whom the meet is named. Shannon was a former Lewiston High School swimmer who was tragically killed in 2006. At the start of the meet everyone shared a moment of silence to remember what a wonderful contribution she was to our community.

When all the events were completed, the swimmers were not done yet; one last race was added to the meet. A 500 yard swim (20 lengths in the pool) was added, but it came with a twist. Instead of having only one person from each team swim all 20 lengths, the teams had to put together 20 people from each team to swim one length each. After a long and strenuous effort from both sides, the current Lewiston High School Swim Team pulled it out and won the race. It was a night of bonding, enthusiasm, but, most of all, teamwork. There may have been two sides in this meet, but there was only one team.