Greg Dohler/The Gazette Eleanor Roosevelt's Daniel Chavez competes in the 100-yard butterfly Saturday in a swim meet against Bowie at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover.

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Before Saturday evening, Eleanor Roosevelt High School swimming coach Andrew Zanghi hadn't experienced his team's rivalry with Bowie High School.

He got his first taste on Saturday at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex — and it was a sweet one.

The Raiders thoroughly dominated the Bulldogs, winning the boys' meet, 118-52, and the girls' meet, 125-45, in one of the most lopsided matches in recent memory between the two Prince George's County swimming powers.

“Everybody's been talking about it all year, and I'm just glad we were able to pull out a victory,” Zanghi said. “It was as fun as everyone said it would be. So yeah, we had a great time.”

Roosevelt had the first-place swimmer in 18 of the 22 events, and the top three swimmers in seven races. They dominated almost every race with few exceptions.

Bowie's Blair Vizbulis narrowly bested Roosevelt's Cecelia Lapp-Stoltzfus in the girls' 100-yard butterfly, 1 minute, 10.69 seconds to 1:10.81. Bowie's Steven Rigby won the boys' 500 freestyle over Christian Dixon. But Rigby was on the wrong side of another incredibly close finish, losing the 100 backstroke to Roosevelt's Michael Stevens by .71 seconds.

Lee Friedman had a strong showing for the Raiders. The senior won the boys' 50 freestyle and was part of Roosevelt's first-place 200 medley relay.

“I had two solid swims,” Friedman said. “They weren't my best times, but I showed up and I raced and I feel good about what I did. I'm so proud of my team. We've been working hard all year, and we all just showed up and we all just came to race and to win today. We really wanted it.”

Their utter dominance, Friedman said, made the night that much better.

“It's just awesome, it's a great feeling when you sweep an event,” he said. “It makes you feel so good. It shows that all the hard work that everyone in our team has been putting in really is showing.”

The commanding win against such a heated rival made Saturday especially enjoyable for the Raiders. Roosevelt will hold bragging rights for the next year, something Raider swimmers said they would revel in.

In spite of the intensity of the rivalry, Friedman said both sides exhibited good sportsmanship before and during the meet, with the trash talking of previous years not present. Both sides credited the rivalry with bringing out the best in their teams.

“It's just a great rivalry,” Friedman said. “It's a good meet where we have good swims, and it's just fun to know that you have competition that brings out the best in both teams. It really brings out good races. And I just love it because it gets the team going, and really lots of enthusiasm.”

“Oh my gosh, it's so intense,” Vizbulis said. “We are big rivals, so we just try to be as animated and as upbeat as we can. Even if we don't win, we gotta be supportive and just try to win.”

Bowie was aware of Roosevelt's talented lineup and the challenge that was waiting on Saturday.

“We weren't surprised at it at all, we just don't have the same depth that we've had in previous years,” said Bowie coach Maggie Fletcher. “We're looking forward to what's coming next.”

What's coming next for the Bulldogs, Raiders and the rest of Prince George's County's public school teams is the county championship meet, scheduled for next Saturday at Fairland Aquatic Center in Laurel.