Submitted by Karen Miller
The Sharks of the Lake Monticello Swim Team (LMST) kicked off their 2019 summer swim season Wednesday evening (June 12). The Sharks participated in an unscored away meet against Division 1 team ACAC. The Division 2 Sharks had a strong showing.
The Sharks kicked off the meet racing in eight different 200-meter medley relays, in which each of four swimmers on a relay team swims 50 meters of a different stroke. LMST has an amazing group of swimmers this season and in the boys and girls 13-14 age group, those two relay teams both took home first place wins. Likewise, in the boys and girls 15-18 age group, those relay teams also took home two first place wins.
The team also competed in 25–, 50– and 100–meter races which included freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. This was the first time for many of the kids in a 50-meter pool and the swimmers gave it their all. In addition to the four medley relay wins, the Sharks brought home an additional 12 first place victories.
This was also the first time for many of the swimmers to experience swimming in a competitive meet. Head Coach Sito Arroyo, along with his coaching staff, praised the team, saying, “We’re very proud of our swimmers for how well they did in the meet versus ACAC this week. They showed us their great sportsmanship and team spirit. We’re looking forward to a fun and successful meet next week!”
Each week the LMST coaches select one male and one female Swimmer of the Week. This is a swimmer who the coaches feel has exemplified great character that week in the form of sportsmanship, dedication, hard work, encouragement, perseverance, respect and helpfulness to the coaches and their teammates. The coaching staff would like to congratulate the Swimmers of the Week for week one: Jacob Ondek and Emmy Graves.
“Jacob is one of the lane leaders at the 8-9 p.m. practice,” said Arroyo. “He can often be seen encouraging the younger swimmers behind the blocks. He listens very well and does his best at every practice, even when they get challenging. The LMST coaching staff can always count on Jacob to show up to practice with a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Emmy is a new swimmer in the 11-12 age group who always comes to practice with a smile on her face and a positive attitude. Emmy listens to her coaches very well and looks for ways to improve by asking her coaches what she needs to work on and if she is doing the stroke correctly.”
Shark families and coaches are looking forward to continuing with an exciting season schedule, which included a meet against Glenmore Country Club Tornadoes on Wednesday (June 19). LMST swims its first home meet of the season at the brand new LMOA pool against the City of Charlottesville Swordfish next Wednesday (June 26). Come on out to the “Shark Tank” and cheer on your LMST Sharks!
