The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams lost to La Salle, 142-77 and 134-94, respectively, but an innocent passer-by might not have known it.

The chants and cheers from team members and the crowd alike would not die down despite the Colonials’ struggles. Even as it became more apparent that neither squad was going to win, the atmosphere remained upbeat and encouraging.

The intensity of the team’s tone and the volume of their voices were somewhat misleading the Colonials are actually hobbled by injuries and were severely undermanned. The men’s team entered the meet with eight swimmers while the Explorers had 19.

“I feel really great about our team’s performance, considering all the swimmers we are missing due to injuries,” senior Drew Boudreau said.

Absent from the meet was junior David Zenk, an Atlantic 10 Conference record holder in the 200- and 400-yard individual medley. The star was competing with the water polo team in the CWPA Southern Championships in Annapolis, Md., along with sophomore Rick Rogers.

One area where the Colonials did excel was in diving. Freshman Sarah Landry won both the one- and three-meter diving events, while classmate Dan Thomann took the men’s one-meter.

GW also took first through fourth place in the 200-yard breaststroke. The event was led by junior Lauren Fuchs, followed by classmate Ariana Berdini and sophomores Katrina Timlin and Jen Cohn.

Boudreau said that his team is not discouraged by the unfavorable results and that they continue to practice with enthusiasm.

“We come in every day, injured or not, and bust our (butts), and if we don’t win we keep working hard anyway,” he said. Boudreau stressed team and personal best times as the squad’s focus this season. The Colonials will have their next chance to lower their times at the Patriot Invitational in Fairfax, Va., Nov. 16-18.