Before filling the pool for warm-ups, members of the South County High School Swim and Dive team filled the Toys for Tots collection box at South Run RECenter. The team decided to give collectively at their final dual meet before Christmas break, a Dec. 19 face off with the team from Robert E Lee High School.

Laurie Strickland of Springfield has organized the toy drive for the last four years. Strickland is the fitness director at South Run. “We sit in a pretty affluent area,” she said. “And we challenge our community to give back.”

The drive ran from Nov. 17 until Dec. 19 and yielded about nine boxes of toys, according to Strickland. She estimates the total count was around 500, which all went to a Marine Corps depot in Dumfries for distribution.

That final night of the drive, the South County boys team defeated Lee by a score of 191 to 107. The girls team also won, scoring 178.5 to Lee’s 126.5.