Submitted by Amy Williams
The Fluvanna Aquatics Sports Team (FAST) met the Louisa Gators for the final dual meet of the Jefferson Swim League summer swim season Wednesday (July 17). Just as swimmers and families were making their way to the pool, a huge thunderstorm rolled through Louisa, bringing with it strong gusts of wind, pounding rain and lightning. This resulted in a delayed start to the meet, as officials waited for lightning to move a safe distance from the pool and then set to work cleaning up the storm damage on deck.
Once underway, the meet ran smoothly until another batch of lightning brought things to a premature end during the freestyle relay events. The final score was FAST 381 to Louisa 502. FAST went 1-4 for the regular season.
Four FAST swimmers, Emma DiFazio (17), Jackson Kinsella (14), Harrison Williams (10) and Ryann Birckhead (6), swept their individual events for the evening, going home with all blue ribbons.
Emma DiFazio kicked off the evening with a win in the 15-18 girls’ 50-meter freestyle, where she led by three seconds to finish in 28.31 seconds. In her 50-meter backstroke, Emma finished ahead of her opponents, in 32.29. Completing her evening trifecta, Emma grabbed the win in the 50-meter fly, in 30.19. With these wins, Emma finished the 2019 regular swim season with a perfect record, having captured wins in every individual event she swam.
Jackson Kinsella’s night began with a commanding win in his 100-meter individual medley (IM). Jackson led by nearly nine seconds, to finish in just 1:09.06. Over the course of the season, Jackson dropped an impressive 8.4 seconds in his IM. Jackson’s other wins for the evening came in his 50-meter freestyle in 27.32 seconds, and his 50-meter breaststroke in 38.09 seconds.
Harrison Williams led the evening with a win in his 100-yard IM, which he finished in 1:35.97. This was his first successful completion of the IM for the season. He also secured wins in the 50-meter freestyle in 37.91 seconds, and 50-meteer breaststroke in 52.88 seconds.
The youngest swimmer to sweep her events for the evening was 6-year-old Ryann Birckhead, who turned in wins for both the 6 and under 25-meter freestyle and backstroke events. Ryann’s wins were particularly impressive, as she dropped an astounding 14.06 seconds off her freestyle time and 5.03 seconds from her backstroke.
FAST also scored wins in the 100-meter IM events of 10-year-old Ava Gray (1:39.78) and 15-year-old Joseph Sam (1:21.50). FAST led a number of the freestyle events with Ella Gray (8), Maya Hernandez (10), and Laura Hernandez (14) all grabbing first. Breaststroke wins went to Jacob Birckhead (7), Ella Gray (8), Josie Caruso (10) and Joey Hagan (15). Backstroke was led by Abby Caruso (8), Maya Hernandez (10), and Mitch Messier (14). The Caruso siblings, Abby (8) and Anthony (14), took wins for FAST in their respective butterfly events.
Summing up the night, Coach Nathan Johnson said, “Even with the high heat, swimmers dropped time and swam FAST. I can’t wait to see everyone at Champs.”
FAST will swim in the Jefferson Swim League Championship Meet July 26-27 at the University of Virginia Aquatics Center.
