Press Release
The Lake Monticello Sharks turned in a commanding win (529-400) in its final home meet of the 2023 summer swim season, over the Farmington Country Club Frogs.
As is tradition, the last home meet is “Senior Night,” where swimmers who have just completed high school are recognized for their accomplishments both in and out of the pool. This year, the Sharks had just one senior to recognize. Madison Kovarik has been swimming with the Sharks since she was eight years old. She has been coaching fellow Sharks for the last three seasons, and enjoys working with the newest swimmers, many of whom she has taught through her work as a swim instructor. Madison graduated from Fluvanna High School last spring, and is headed to PVCC this fall. In addition to her accomplishments at the pool, Madison owns and operates her own business, Mad’s Photography. The Sharks were excited to celebrate Coach Madi before diving into the meet.
This week’s meet kicked off with 100 and 200 meter (m) medley relay races, where in each leg of the relay, a different stroke is performed. The order of strokes is backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and finally freestyle. In the 100m, each leg is 25 meters, while in the 200m, each leg is 50 meters.
The 100m medley relay win went to the team of six-year-olds, Lorelei Hall, Sami Kalinosky, Mehki Jackson, and Michael Koerper, who finished in 2:22.19.
The Shark boys dominated in the 200m relays, with the 9–10-year-olds, Levi Strickland (10), Marshall Yellets (10), Brandon Kalinosky (9), and Elijah Johnson (9) winning in 4:13.65, while the 11-12 year olds, Jack Panas (12), Reed Williams (11), Brick Sumner (11) and Isaac Johnson (11) finished in 3:39.89. In the 14-year-old category, Harrison Williams, James Johnson, Aaron Fairbanks and Harber Amiss led with 2:23.56
A number of Sharks brought home multiple individual wins. Norbu Bennett (8) dominated all of his individual events, including the 25m butterfly (17.54), 25m backstroke (19.91), and 50m freestyle (37.35). Annaelise Campbell (10) won both her 50m breaststroke (55.35) and her 50m backstroke (50.97), where she dropped an impressive 3.75 seconds from her seed time. Jaxon Brooks (16) led his 50m butterfly (31.72) and 100m freestyle (1:00.19), while Sierra Miller (15) took first in her 50m freestyle (33.25) and 100m freestyle (1:15.50).
Other notable Shark finishes from the night included Elias Lovdal (10) dropping 4.54 seconds from his seed time, to finish first in his 50m backstroke (1:06.96); Piper Eves (8) dropping 3.16 seconds in her 50m butterfly (25.06) and Jack Panas (12) leading his 50m freestyle (43.92) by an impressive 11.3 seconds,
Wednesday’s meet also saw an intense rivalry play out among 14-year-olds, James Johnson and Aaron Fairbank. The friends went head-to-head in two nail-bitingly close races. First, in the 50m butterfly, where James finished (33.37) ahead by a mere .28 second, and then in the 100m freestyle (1:00.19), where Aaron bested James by just .25 seconds.
Overall, it was a great night in the “Shark Tank,” and the team looks forward to finishing the season strong when they face off against the City of Charlottesville Swordfish, on Wednesday, July 19th, at 6 p.m.
