Contributed by Cos DiFazio
With strong individual performances and victories in the boys 200 Medley Relay (Jacob Ondek, Gus Jones, Anthony Caruso, Ahmad Woodson) and the boys 200 freestyle relay (Ahmad Woodson, Jackson Kinsella, Anthony Caruso, Gus Jones), the FCHS swimmers won their first boys team Region 3C Championship.
Swimming freshman sensation Alexandra Fuller was the only individual event winner for the Flucos in the 100 Freestyle with a blazingly fast time of 52.69. Joining the girls relay that qualified for the state championship were, Vaile Altherr, Ally Lounsbury, Alexandra Fuller, and Anne Charlotte Robinson, who improved over 4 seconds to finish 3rd in the 200 Medley Relay. Vaile Altherr finished 5th in the 100 Backstroke to qualify individually for the state championships while Ally Lounsbury finished 6th in the 50 Freestyle.
FCHS divers who have been consistently improving all year long also made big contributions to the team with John Layne and Sara Beth Robinson both finishing second. Multi-talented senior Jacob Ondek finished 4th in the dive competition, swam on the winning 200 medley relay, and placed 3rd in the boys 50 Freestyle.
Coach Michael DiFazio said “It was a fun season for the Fluvanna swim and dive team! All of our hard work paid off at the regional championship meet. This is the first regional championship in swimming that FCHS has won, I am very proud of all the athletes on this team. In my 15+ years around the sport of swimming, I have never seen a meet where every individual swim except for one was a personal best. I can not wait to see everyone compete this coming week at states!”
Seniors Anthony Caruso, Gus Jones, and Ahmad Woodson added 2nd place finishes in the 200 IM, 200 Free, and 100 Butterfly respectively. Ahmad also finished 3rd in the 100 Freestyle while Gus finished 4th in the 100 Breastroke and Anthony finished 6th in the 100 Butterfly. Junior Jackson Kinsella went on to finish 4th in the 100 Backstroke and qualified for the state championships.
The girls 200 Freestyle Relay (Anne Charlotte Robinson, Vaile Altherr, Ally Lounsbury, Alexandria Fuller) and the boys 400 Free Relay (Jacob Ondek, Jackson Kinsella, Tyler Davis, Brandon Watkins) finished 5th.
Coach Mitchell Pace who won the men’s coach of the year award for the region said “It was an amazing week for Fluvanna Swim & Dive! The swimmers and divers are peaking at the ideal moment of the season with lots of time improvements and personal bests! Winning the men’s regional championship was one of the highlights of my coaching career! I could not be prouder of the entire Fluco team!”
Coach Stacey Fuller loved the team’s improvement but wanted to recognize two of the biggest improvements with Anne Charlotte Robinson improving over 38 seconds in the 500 free to finish 8th and Anthony Caruso improving 6 seconds for the exciting 2nd place finish in the 200 IM.
