Contributed by Amy Williams
A common challenge of the summer swim season is waiting out afternoon thunderstorms. Wednesday, July 10, the Lake Monticello Swim Team (LMST) had to do just that, when they visited the Key West Club (KWC). With storms forecasted, the meet directors and coaches worked feverishly, throughout the day, to develop contingency plans. As the forecast seemed to indicate that the storms would be brief, it was decided that the swim meet would go on, as scheduled. Unfortunately, at 4:45 p.m., just as the first group of swimmers was set to begin warm-ups, the skies opened, thunder was heard, and lightning was seen in the distance. As the storm moved through, the start of the meet was pushed further and further back. Ultimately, swimmers were able to warm-up, at 7 p.m., over two hours later than originally planned.
In an effort to improve efficiency and make up for the delayed start, all 25 yard events, with swimmers eight and under, and all freestyle relays, were moved to the beginning of the meet.
KWC, with home pool advantage, dominated the majority of these races, with few exceptions. LMST six-year-old, Annalina Barresi, took the wins in both of her individual races, including the 25 yard freestyle, when she dropped 1.39 seconds to finish in 29.75, and her 25 yard backstroke (30.84). Teammate Ava Powell led her 25 yard freestyle (18.93) and 25 yard butterfly (23.13), for which she dropped 1.59 seconds. Aubry Beck won the 25 yard backstroke in 29.13, an impressive 3.91 seconds off her seed time.
While race wins were not prevalent for the youngest LMST swimmers, impressive time improvements were. Jasper Simmons (8) dropped 5.58 seconds, while Apollo Mott (7) shaved 5.96 seconds, and Luna Pendelton (8) chopped 9.58 seconds, off their respective 25 yard freestyles.
The LMST 200 yard freestyle relays wins went to the older boys on the team, with the 13-14 year olds: Kaiden Myer, Zachary Allen, Matthew Blevins, and Landon Kovarik, finishing an impressive 28 seconds ahead of their KWC rivals, in 2:05.78, and 15-18 year olds: Aaron Fairbanks, Nicholas Hockman, Andrew Mikesh, and James Johnson leading in 1:44.93.
With the 25 yard events and freestyle relays complete, the meet moved to 50 yard races, where LMST saw a few more wins and time improvements.
Norbu Barnett dominated amongst the 9-10 year old boys. He won all of his individual races, including breaststroke (44.01), backstroke (37.37), and butterfly (32.53). Norbu also swam an exhibition (unscored) 100 yard individual medley (IM) in 1:16.75.
A number of the 9-10 year olds saw time improvements in their backstrokes, including: Oliver Miller, down 8.83, Adalynn Simmons, less 8.81, and Lyra Winter, who dropped a whopping 17.56 seconds. Amongst 11-12 year olds, Brick Sumner was the only LMST swimmer to secure wins, which he accomplished with his 43.21 finish in the breaststroke and 42.88 finish in butterfly. He also grabbed third in his 100 yard IM in 1:33.03. Time improvements, amongst the 11-12 year olds, were swum by Lily Dugan, who dropped 9.6 in butterfly, Jolynne Comer, who was down 5.01 in IM, Charlotte Boothby, who improved 5.12 in freestyle, Reed Williams, who shaved 5.21 from breaststroke, and Paxton Strickland, whose 7.75 second drop in butterfly (51.90) resulted in a third place finish and four points to the team.
LMST 13-14 year olds boys led every individual event, other than breaststroke, in which Matthew Blevins placed second, just .36 behind the winner. Matthew Blevins dominated his 100 yard IM in 1:17.31 and 50 yard butterfly in 33.76. Kaiden Myer led the remainder of the events, finishing first in both the freestyle (29.88) and backstroke (34.72). For the 13-14 year old girls,
Madison Clark led all of her individual races, including an IM in 1:17.15, butterfly in 32.69, and breaststroke in 41.07. Seth Beach improved his backstroke by 5.05 seconds.
The LMST 15-18 year old boys also made an impressive showing with firsts by Aaron Fairbanks, in the freestyle (26.31) and butterfly (28.47), and Nicholas Hockman, in the backstroke (31.77), where he shaved 1.19 from his seed time.
A number of LMST swimmers had the opportunity to swim events for the first time this season, and their finishes provided points to the team. Completing their first butterflies were: Kaleo Heath (8), in 28.82, Cole Gheling (9), in 54.87, Piper Eves (9), in 49.21, Riley Kovarik (10), in 50.72, and Landon Kovarik (14), in 37.19. First time breaststrokes, which earned points, were completed by Stella Strickland (9), in 57.00 and Georgia Comer (12), in 50.18. Piper Eves also finished her first IM, for three points, in 1:44.39.
Other “firsts” this week were accomplished by the LMST swimmers of the week. Sean Brown (15), and Olivia Yorek (12), who Coach Maria Arroyo described as “hard working and focused on improving their strokes,” had successful nights at the pool. Sean cleanly completed his first competition breaststroke event, while Olivia, in her first ever meet with LMST, successfully completed her freestyle and butterfly events.
The weather-delayed start meet lasted late into the evening, and by the time it completed around 10:30 p.m. KWC had won over LMST, 557 to 443. Wednesday, July 17, will be the last meet of the regular season, at the Lake Monticello pool, against the City of Charlottesville.
