Do you believe in miracles?
The Cherry Hill East girls swim team certainly does, channeling that iconic USA hockey team on the 40th anniversary of the "Miracle on Ice," to survive a disqualification in a neck-and neck meet with top-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan, No. 1 in the NJ.com Top 20, for an 88-82 win in the Public A final.
"We had watched the movie 'Miracle,' last night," Cherry Hill East senior Grace Yoon said. "It's pretty cheesy but we thought it'd be a cute way to get excited. I think that desire they had to win resonated with us, and that's something we used to go above and beyond in this meet.
"They came from behind to win and we did too. It was 40 years ago today and we all took that as a sign. We knew maybe another day they would've beaten us, but we all had the mentality that this is our meet today. We're going to do it today."
The second-seeded and No. 3 Cougars controlled the meet from the start, but heading into the final event they needed a 1-3 finish after a disqualification in the 500 free helped give the Panthers the lead.
"I (split the relays)," Cherry Hill East coach Anita Bowser said. "I moved Grace (Yoon) into the B (relay) because I knew we needed to go 1-3. I get very nervous when I have to do that. I was shaking as I was writing out the card."
That meant the pressure was on Yoon. She was ready.
"I was a little disappointed my 500 was disqualified," Yoon said. "I used that to push me. I told myself I'm doing this for something bigger than myself. I knew we had to go at least 1-3 in that relay, and as soon as I hit the water I literally gave everything I had."
The senior has been a star swimmer since she helped lead Cherry Hill East to a sectional title and won two individual titles at the Meet of Champions as a freshman. All the disqualification did was light a fire under arguably the state's best swimmer.
Yoon delivered.
All Cherry Hill East needed was a third-place finish, but Yoon pushed the B Relay to second, taking the race by .30 seconds to give the Cougars two more points than it needed.
"Normally I don't celebrate after my races," Yoon said. "I'm just not a super energetic person. But when I touched the wall and I knew we had won I was so excited. I celebrated with my teammates and they were all so elated. It was a such a great moment."
The disqualification could've decided the meet.
Heading into Saturday's contest both teams had the meet decided by only a handful of points. Those projections held true through the first five events as no team earned more than a two-point advantage in any event, and two events saw the two juggernauts split.
It took until the 100 free for Cherry Hill East to pull away with Brianna DiSanti leading a 1-3-4 finish to give the Cougars some breathing room, before Yoon led a 1-3 finish in the 500 free, taking the event by more than 13 seconds, for a 10-point advantage heading into the final four events.
That's when the false start was announced, with two judges independently marking the infraction, stripping Yoon of her first-place finish and shrinking Cherry Hill East's lead to two points.
"I was shocked," Yoon said. "That never really happens for me. It was a 500 so I didn't have any specific desire to have a really fast start or anything. I tried to talk to the officials to see if they could overturn it and they were just not having it. I was a little bit shaken up after that."
Added Bowser: "I was fuming. To me that DQ was huge. I thought that was sealing our win, and when we lost that it was very upsetting to me."
In the end, all the disqualification did was make the meet more dramatic and the victory even sweeter.
"Going into the relay I was a little nervous because I knew if that hadn't happened we would've had the lead," Yoon said. "In the moment it was really nerve-wracking, but when it's over you're glad it happened. It makes it more special."
Not that Cherry Hill East really needed a cherry on top.
Bridgewater-Raritan has ended Cherry Hill East's season each of the last three years as the Panthers have established themselves as New Jersey's best team, winning four straight Public A titles while going undefeated the last three years and holding on to the top spot in the rankings for most of that stretch.
The Panthers entered Saturday's meet with another undefeated record, which included a win over Non-Public A champ and No. 2 IHA.
"This is so much better than any individual win," Yoon said. "You share this with so many people. When I finished I just looked up and saw so many people had tears in their eyes. It was unreal. It's definitely something I'm going to remember for a very long time."
Evan Slavit may be reached at eslavit@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @EvanSlavitHS. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.