In a very close swim meet on Wednesday (June 22), the Fluvanna Aquatics Sports Team (FAST) was defeated in its first scored meet of the season 505-517 by the Charlottesville City Swordfish. In a meet with 80 events and over 1,000 points to be distributed, a 12-point difference is a tiny margin of victory.
The last eight events of the meet were the freestyle relays, four age group races for boys and girls. The FAST team went into these events with a slim two-point deficit. Ten points are awarded per race for the winning team and five for the other team. The City swimmers won five relay races and the FAST swimmers won three. As a result, the City swimmers totaled 65 points in these eight races and FAST totaled 55 points for a difference of 10 points and a 12-point overall margin of victory for City.
In the opening event of the meet, the FAST Makos got off to a good start, as the boys’ 8 and under team of Ivan Patchett, James Johnson, Landon Mayhew and Brayden Johnson swam to victory. In event three, the boys’ age 9-10 individual medley (IM), the Makos’ Cole Owen and Finn Thompson took first and second, respectively. In the girls’ 9-10 IM, FAST’s Emily Farist was the winner. She was 12 seconds better than her closest competitor. In the boys’ 11-12 IM, FAST took first when Ahmad Woodson won easily. After two wins by the Swordfish, the Makos bounced back in the girls’ 13-14 IM with Abigail Brown winning and Emma DiFazio taking second. In the boys’ and girls’ 15-18 age group IM the Makos could only manage second place finishes by Mike DiFazio and Hannah Brown.
In the girls’ 8 and under 25-meter freestyle event, Audrey Harlow was second for the Makos. In the boys’ 9-10 50-meter freestyle, Josh Hodges won and Cole Gustafson was second for FAST, gaining 12 points for their team. In the scoring of these meets, first place is worth seven points and second place five. Only the first two finishers for a team count. So if a team takes first and second, the opposition team scores four points for third and three points for fourth, as long as it has two swimmers finish.
In the girls’ 50-meter freestyle, Emily Farist was the winner for the Makos. FAST took first and second in the boys’ age 11-12 50-meter freestyle. Ahmad Woodson was first and Colten Sawyer was second. In the boys’ age 13-14 50-meter freestyle Luke Gustafson was the winner for the Makos. In the same age group for the girls’ the Makos also won, as Abby Harlow beat her closest competition by four seconds. The age 15-18 freestyle was a strong category for the Makos. Mike DiFazio and Jonathan Corbin were first and second for the boys and Hannah Brown was first for the girls.
Next up were the breaststroke events. Ivan Patchett was second for the 8 and under boys. Josh Hodges was first for the 9-10 boys. Emily Farist was first for the 9-10 girls. They won by approximately six and eight seconds, respectively. Colten Sawyer was the winner in the 11-12 boys’ breaststroke race, and Luke Gustafson was the winner in the boys’ 13-14 breaststroke event. In the 13-14 girls’ event, Abby Harlow was first for the Makos and Abigail Brown was second. In the oldest age group breaststroke events the Makos took second place: Aden Johnson for the boys and Kayla Cordera-Wells for the girls.
In the 8 and under backstroke the Makos took two second places: Ivan Patchett for the boys and Audrey Harlow for the girls. Cole Owen and Cole Gustafson finished first and second for the Makos in the boys’ age 9-10 50-meter backstroke. The same was true in the boys’ 11-12 backstroke as Ahmad Woodson and Reese D’Alessandro finished one and two. In the girls’ event in the 11-12 age category Grace Farist grabbed a second-place finish. Backstroke was a strong event for the FAST team with the DiFazios leading the way. In the girls’ 13-14 age group, Emma DiFazio was first and Abigail Brown second for FAST, and Mike DiFazio was first in the 15-18 boys’ event. In the 15-18 girls’ event, Hannah Brown was first and Bridget Bossong was second.
The final individual event of the meet was the butterfly. In the 8 and under event, Landon Mayhew was second for the Mako boys and in the girls’ 8 and under, Audrey Harlow was first. In the 9-10 age bracket, Cole Owen won the butterfly event. In the boys’ 11-12 age group, Reese D’Alessandro was second. In the 13-14 age group, Luke Gustafson won for the FAST boys and Abby Harlow won for the FAST girls, with Emma DiFazio in second. In the 15-18 age group the FAST swimmers finished second in both races. Jonathan Corbin was second for the boys and Anna Hurdle was second for the girls. The freestyle relays followed, and the Swordfish hung on to win the meet by winning five of the eight relays.
The FAST team is coached again this year by Coach Coz (i.e. Cosimo DiFazio). The coach emphasizes improving times and competing in good spirit. The team website notes that “Swimming for the Makos is not about winning, it is about learning values and always trying to do your best. We focus on sportsmanship and team spirit.” Nonetheless, every race does have a winner, as does every scored meet, so that is what we report.
