By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Lake Monticello Swim Team (LMST) hosted the Key West Swim Club at the new Lake Monticello pool Wednesday (July 17). First the meet was threatened by a need to drain and refill the pool. Then, at 4 p.m., it looked like the meet might be canceled as a significant cloudburst moved through Fluvanna County. However, the storm was a small cell that passed quickly, and by the 6 p.m. start time the sky was clear and the temperature was hot.
In the first scored event of the meet, Key West won the girls’ under age 8 100-meter freestyle relay for 10 points. The Sharks squad was second for five points. The following event was the boys’ 9-10 100-meter individual medley (IM). Key West took first and second for 12 points. In the girls’ 9-10 100-meter IM, Key West took first but Lila Kate Robinson and Isabelle Thompson finished second and third, recording five and four points for the Sharks. In the boys’ 11-12 100-meter IM, Landon Creamer was second, recording five points. In the girls’ 11-12 100-meter IM, Sophie Pace was third for the Sharks.
In the boys’ 13-14 100-meter IM, Cole Gustafson was second for the Sharks and Finn Thompson was third. Lake Monticello won its first event of the night in the girls’ 13-14 100-meter IM, as Grace Farist won, and she was followed in second place by teammate Julia Tomaras. These swimmers gained seven and five points respectively. The boys’ 15-18 100-meter IM had a similar result, as Hunter Strickland and Nathaniel Smith finished one and two for a combined total of 12 points.
Lake Monticello continued its dominance in the older races, as Abigayle Harlow and Olivia Strickland were first and second in the girls’ 15-18 100-meter IM.
Once the IM races were over, the meet moved to races in the different disciplines. In the boys’ under 8 25-meter freestyle, Mateo Achmad-Guzman finished second for the Sharks, losing by only two-tenths of a second. In the girls’ 8 and under 25-meter freestyle, Ariella Miller was third for the Sharks.
All the freestyle events for older swimmers are 50 meters. In the boys’ 9-10 freestyle, Lake Monticello took first and third. Jack Pace was the winner. In the girls’ 9-10 freestyle, the Sharks were completely dominant. Reese Yowell won, Lila Kate Robinson was second, and the next three finishers were all swimming for the Sharks. The points system, however, awards seven for first, five for second, and then gives four and three points to the top two finishers for the other team, regardless of where they actually finish. As a result, although the Sharks had the top five times and eight of the top 10, they still only won the event 12 points to seven.
In the boys’ 11-12 freestyle event, Jaxon Brooks was third for the Sharks. In the girls’ freestyle event the Sharks dominated again. Sophie Pace was the winner, Sarah Beth Robinson was second and Sierra Miller was third. In the boys’ 13-14 event, Cole Gustafson was the winner for the Sharks, and Finn Thompson took third. In the girls’ 13-14 freestyle, the Sharks took the first seven places. Grace Farist was the winner, with Megan Farist in second. In the boys’ 15-18 freestyle, the Sharks had the seven fastest times, with Luke Gustafson in first and Owen Strickland in second. In the girls’ 15-18 freestyle, Allyson Lounsbury was first, while her teammate Meghan Dech was second.
The meet then switched over to the breaststroke, with the under 8 age group swimming 25 meters and all the older competitors going 50 meters. In both the boys’ and girls’ 8 and under the Sharks took third and fourth. In the 9-10 boys’ event, Key West had six of the top seven finishers with the Sharks only taking third. The Sharks finally got it going in the breaststroke in the girls’ 9-10 age group. Charlotte Gifford was first and Madelyn Grout was second. In the boys’ 11-12 it was again Lake Monticello in third and fourth. In the girls’ 11-12, the best the Sharks could do was third. In the boys’ 13-14 the Sharks managed a second by Finn Thompson. In the girls’ 13-14, Julia Tomaras was a winner for Lake Monticello, while Abbie Ford was third. In the boys’ 15-18 Owen Strickland was the winner, while in the girls’ race, Abigayle Harlow was first and Meghan Dech third.
In the 8 and under backstroke the Sharks’ Mateo Achmad-Guzman and Matthew Blevins were second and third. In the girls’ 8 and under backstroke, Key West took the top three places. In the boys’ 9-10 50-meter backstroke, Matthew Farist was second. In the girls’ 9-10 backstroke, Reese Yowell was second for the Sharks. This event was as far as the meet was able to go.
Sharks Coach Sito Arroyo said that the Sharks had a roster this season of approximately 160 swimmers. He noted that he was very happy with the improvements in times shown by his swimmers and felt that the team had a good season in that regard despite not notching any wins.
