Contributed by Amy Williams
The City of Charlottesville Swordfish faced-off against the Lake Monticello Sharks, Wednesday, June 18, in what proved to be a closely competitive meet. In the end, City led the Sharks, 549.5 to 496.5.
Kingston Arencibia (5), continued his winning streak from the week prior, by leading in both his 25 meter (m) freestyle (24.44) and 25m backstroke (27.00). His third win of the night came while anchoring the 100m freestyle relay team of Trace Brown, Indigo Geyer, and “Swimmer of the Week,” Arrow Harrington (2:25.73). Arrow was named this week’s “Girl Shark of the Week,” in part, for the integral role she has played on the relay team.
Time improvements were seen throughout the night, including those made by seven year olds, Michael Koerper, who took 3.28 seconds off his 25m freestyle, finishing in just 18.53 and Henley Belew, who dropped 2.42 seconds to finish first in her 25m butterfly (28.69).
The Sharks, in the 9-10 age group, swept every individual event of the evening, plus one relay. The night started with a win by the 200m Medley Relay team of Perry Provencher (10), Brayden Arencibia (9), Norbu Barnett (10), and Cole Gehling (10), and was followed by individual wins by Cole in the 50m freestyle (45.44), Norbu in the 50m breaststroke (46.87), 50m butterfly (36.03), and 100m freestyle (1:15.53), and Perry in the 50m backstroke (45.36). Not to be out done by the boys, Stella Strickland (10) and Ava Powell (9), each brought home two individual firsts. Stella led the 50m breaststroke (57.12), and 50m butterfly (52.55), while Ava took the 50m backstroke (49.28) and 100m freestyle (1:36.93).
Amongst swimmers 11-12, the Shark girls secured wins with Isabella Koerper’s (12) finish in the 50m freestyle (37.33), Annelise Campbell’s (12) nearly six second lead in the 50m backstroke (40.78), and Lily Dugan’s (12) 50m butterfly. For the boys, Marshall Yellets (12) dropped nearly 10 seconds to lead the 50m breaststroke, while Paxton Strickland (12),in his first meet of the season, finished a staggering 23.81 seconds ahead of second place, in the 50m butterfly (44.56).
The Shark 13-14 year old boys dominated five out of six of their events, starting with Mickey Comer (13), Brick Sumner (13), Matthew Blevins (14), and Seth Beach’s (14) 2:49.18 finish in the 200m medley relay. Matthew went on to lead in the 50m (31.78) and 100m freestyle (1:13.59), while Brick took the 50m breaststroke (45.50) and Mickey bested the 50m backstroke (48.81). Ariella Miller (13) put up a win for the girls 13-14 year olds with her lead in the 50m freestyle (35.18).
The final relay win for the Sharks went to 15-18 year olds, with Aaron Fairbanks (16), James Johnson (16), Landon Kovarik (15), and Andrew Mikesh (17) leading the 200m medley relay in 2:14.56, a full 5.25 seconds ahead of the City team. Aaron, Andrew, and Landon took the top three spots in both the 50m and 100m freestyle. Aaron led the 50m in 28.41 and the 100m in 1:04.25. James dominated the 50m breaststroke (36.94).
This season’s only female Shark in the 15-18 age group, Sophie Pace, dominated all three of her individual races, with wins in the 50m breaststroke (41.41), 50m butterfly (34.34), and 100m freestyle (1:11.28).
Other notable finishes of the evening included Carter Markham’s (10) races. Carter, this week’s “Boy Shark of the Week,” is a new swimmer, who coaches say has been conquering his fears, while showing bravery and kindness. He dropped an astounding 17.17 seconds in his 50m backstroke and 22.08 seconds in his 50m freestyle this week.
Wednesday, June 25, the Sharks will host its first home meet of the week when they welcome the Key West Club to the Shark Tank.
