Contributed by Karen Miller
The Sharks of the Lake Monticello Swim Team (LMST) were back in action for the first swim meet of the 2022 season.
On Wednesday evening, June 15, the Sharks participated in an unscored meet against the Dolphins of Fry’s Springs Beach Club. The Sharks had a strong showing and did extremely well during the meet. The meet was held at Fry’s Springs pool, which is a 50 meter pool, twice the length of our home pool. This can be difficult for younger swimmers and new swimmers, but everyone really gave their full effort. Head Coach Fefe Nardone praised the team saying, “that 50 meter pool was tough but everyone stuck it out and swam great. Us coaches are extremely proud of our swimmers. We have been working hard these past two weeks making sure we do the little things right.”
The meet kicked off with 200 meter medley relays, where four swimmers swim 50 meters each with four different strokes – backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. The Sharks’ relay teams all placed well in each race.
The team also competed in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly; swimming various 25-, 50-, and 100-meter races. Swimmers closed out the meet, late into the night, with swimmers swimming 100-meter freestyle races.
This was the first time for many of the swimmers to experience swimming in a competitive meet, as well as being the first full length dual meet since summer of 2019. The coaching staff praised the diligence, dedication, and sportsmanship of the swimmers throughout the night. Coach Nardone shared, “We can’t wait to see each of them improve throughout the season.”
LMST has 171 amazing swimmers registered this season. Every week the coaches will pick both a male and female “swimmer of the week” to be recognized. This is earned by swimmers who demonstrate hard work, dedication, improvement, and most importantly sportsmanship during the prior week. The first two swimmers of the week are: Mickey Comer and Teagan Brown. Congratulations to these swimmers.
All the LMST Shark families and coaches are looking forward to continuing with an exciting season schedule, which included an away meet against Farmington Country Club on Wednesday, June 22. Then LMST kicks off its first of three back-to-back home swim meets against Glenmore Country Club Tornadoes on June 29, Hollymead Hammerheads on July 6, and City of Charlottesville Swordfish on July 13. The Sharks close out the season with an away meet against Key West Killer Whales on July 20.
