LOWELL — The Lowell High School swimming and diving program remains in place for 2019.

This was the last time the program sent an athlete to states, the final year competing in the on-campus pool, and the start of the COVID pandemic, which ultimately diminished their numbers.

Lowell desperately needed a spark, and the Red Raiders got one from two very different sources.

Rising freshman breaststroke star Maddie Akashian and first-year senior Miranda Strunk, who had six months of diving experience, revitalized a Lowell program that was suddenly back on the map.

While Akashian and Strunk qualified for Div. After 2 state meets, Lowell finished fourth in the Merrimack Valley Conference championship meet. The Raiders made it happen with 27 athletes in their program; This is the highest figure since 2019.

“This all has a lot to do with them and what they model for other swimmers,” Lowell head coach Jen McGlauflin said of Akashian and Strunk.

Akashian and Strunk may have different backgrounds in the pool, but they have the same impact on the rest of McGlauflin’s team.

“They set a model for other kids that it was possible,” the coach said of both qualifying for states. “If no one goes, they can’t see what’s possible. “The two of them are truly great role models.”

Akashian, who placed first in the 100 breaststroke this fall, recently took first place at the MVC meet with a time of 1:17.00. His lightning-fast score of 1:15.95 qualified him for both the regional tournament Sunday at MIT and the state meet Nov. 10 at Boston University. He will be joined by Strunk, who placed fifth in the 1-meter dive (181.25) at the MVC meet and qualified for states with scores of 208.85 in six dives and 338.75 in 11 dives.

Akashian has been competing in breaststroke since he was 8 years old. Her mother, Lauren, swam in college at the event at Holy Cross and inspired her to finally try it.

Akashian swam at the North Shore Swim Club from ages 8 to 12, competing and honing her skills with the best talent in the area. He recently joined a new club team, the Crimson, where he will travel directly from the Lowell YMCA to his weekly two-hour practice every Wednesday.

“It’s so tiring,” he said, laughing.

But it’s clear that the additional work has made him the competitive player he is today.

“He’s so fast because of the experience he has outside the team,” McGlauflin said.

“This makes me better because I swim with different types of people and faster people,” Akashian added. “I also swim against people from Andover and Chelmsford, so I can experience different speeds and competition.”

Akashian was the only eighth-grader on Lowell’s roster when he entered high school for the first time last fall.

“I was scared, but they were so welcoming, so it was fun to do it,” she said. “I had the chance to experience things that others couldn’t.”

This experience has given him a huge advantage in the lane this season.

“Even when he was competing last year he was a little bit more reserved, and I think this year and through this one year he’s more confident,” McGlauflin said. “It really stepped up.”

Akashian is focusing on details ahead of Sunday’s partial meeting.

“I’m working on my draws because I’m a little behind at this point and my turns are coming,” Akashian said. “Those are two important things you need to move forward when racing.”

With three more years on the horizon, Akashian’s future is certainly bright. What about Strunk? The senior diver plans to leave it all hanging in the final meet of his high school diving career.

“I’m trying to clean up some of my diving,” Strunk said. “By working on the mistakes I’ve made in some of my past meets, I’m making sure I’m confident in the list I’ve prepared, knowing where I line up, and knowing that I can do each dive successfully.”

Strunk’s journey to Sunday’s sectional meet began last winter. Strunk, a lifelong gymnast, made a last-minute return to try something new.

“I was pretty sick over the winter and couldn’t do gymnastics as I wanted,” she recalled. “’What if I try diving?’ I thought. ”

Thus Strunk became one of the most flamboyant divers in the state. He started diving with Dive 603, a club program out of Nashua, NH, and decided to join his high school team this fall.

“I am very happy to join this team in my senior year,” he said. “It wasn’t something I expected to do, but it was something I’m so glad I did.”

Strunk reported for trials with a plan to make state. McGlauflin, unaware of his talent, was hesitant.

“He had a plan and knew what he wanted to do,” McGlauflin said. “On the first day of training he said: ‘These are my goals and this is how I’m going to get there.’ This doesn’t happen very often.”

It wasn’t long before Strunk twice hit the 185-point mark needed to qualify for states. The senior is in first place in Sunday’s regional meet with a jaw-dropping score of 338.75.

“It came pretty naturally,” he said. “There are some technical differences between diving and gymnastics, so it’s learning an obstacle and learning how the board works and how you’re supposed to use it instead of doing a straight flip. “It was a learning curve.”

But regardless of their differences in their paths to Sunday’s sectional, Akashian and Strunk have one thing in common.

“They’ll basically do anything I ask to help the team,” McGlauflin said. “They are both really great kids.”