Contributed by Karen Miller
The Lake Monticello Swim Team’s (LMST) June 20 meet against the City of Charlottesville Swordfish was rained out, but that definitely hasn’t dampened their spirit. The Sharks are off to an amazing start this season and enjoying an ever-growing team, up to 151 registered swimmers now, with enthusiasm and excitement.
LMST: Ava Amato
The Jefferson Swim League, to which LMST belongs, challenged all league teams to display excitement in the form of pictures taken at meets or practices during the first week of the season. LMST submitted five pictures on social media which could be voted on; after votes were tallied, LMST was the Division II winner last week with 86 votes (see the winning picture above). LMST was awarded 100 spirit points toward the season-long spirit competition, in which one team from each division is declared the “most spirited team” at the championship swimming competition July 26-27 at the University of Virginia.
Despite the storms and rainy days last week, the Sharks are enthusiastic about the weeks ahead. The Sharks swam against the City Swordfish Monday (June 25) in their rescheduled meet and swam again Wednesday (June 27) against Farmington Country Club. Head Coach Carly Csapo said, “We love competition and look forward to seeing how our swimmers improve each meet.”
The LMST coaching staff continuously praises the efforts all the swimmers are giving this season so far, both in practice and during competition meets. Several LMST swimmers achieved first-time gold times during the meet against Fluvanna Aquatics Sports Team (FAST).
Gold times are earned by swimmers who achieve challenging time standards set by the Jefferson Swim League in 2015 based on championship meet top times in each event. The following LMST swimmers earned gold times at the June 13 swim meet:
Julia Tomaras: Individual medley (IM), freestyle (free), breaststroke (breast);
Abby Harlow: IM, butterfly (fly);
Lila Kate Robinson: Free;
Gabriella Gray: Free;
Cole Gustafson: Free, breast, backstroke (back);
Ally Lounsbury: Free, fly;
Luke Gustafson: Free;
Nathan Smith: Back;
Brenna Rea: Fly;
Aiden Kraft: Fly;
Ava Amato: Fly;
Meghan Dech: Fly; and
Hunter Strickland: Fly.
