After the boys’ and girls’ swim teams both came in first at the Feb 7 swimming Regionals, the two teams progressed to the VHSL sate competition held at George Mason University February 20-21. At States, the boys’ team placed fourth out of 36 teams, and the girls’ team came in 21st out of 36 teams.
“We won Regionals last year by a slim margin, and [we] wanted to come back this year with a dominant performance,” said Hunter Knight (’10), a member of the States team.
The overall scoring for the States competition placed the MLWGS boys’ team only two points behind the third place team, but for the boys swimming at States, the points awarded came down to fractions of a second in several of the races themselves.
The men’s 200 Medley Relay team, comprised of Knight, Ben Catanese (’10), JH Vivadelli (’09), and Sam Rairden (’09), missed first place by 0.6 seconds. Their time of 1:36.86 did, however, set a school record for the 200 Medley Relay.
“The best race of the weekend to watch was the boys’ 200 Medley Relay,” said Jocelyn Powelson (’10), a member of the girls’ swim team. “It was so close.”
The meet was held in two segments: semi-finals on Friday and finals on Saturday. The top eight swimmers for a semi-final event moved to the A heat of the finals, and the swimmers in the next eight places moved to the finals in a consolation heat.
Four MLWGS boys’ team swimmers swam in the finals in individual events (the same four who swam in the Medley Relay), and two of the eight girls’ team swimmers moved to the finals.
Before the race, swimmers have different methods to prepare for the race; some listen to upbeat music, most swimmers stretch, but for Knight, the biggest part of the warm-up is the mental preparation for the race.
“When I am about to swim, I think about the race itself,” said Knight. “Most of the time I try to be in a calm excitement [and] just be really focused.”
Teresa Dula (’11), who scored 23 of the girl’s 36 points in the finals, employed a different method of preparation.
“I bought a FS Pro, one of those swimsuits that go down to your knees,” said Dula. “It took 35 minutes and two people for me to get into it, but it ended up really improving my times. I felt like a fish.”
At States, Dula broke the MLWGS record for girls’ 200 IM, and along with Dula’s new top time, Rairden also set a school record in the men’s 100 freestyle.
“We worked so hard during the season, and our performance this weekend at States shows that dedication does pay off in the end,” said Dula.
After the competition, the team celebrated with a party at Outback Statehouse.
“We deserved a authentic Australian meal after a great weekend of swimming,” said Powelson. “We also had fun drawing on kids menus.”
During the regular swimming season, the MLWGS swim team only lost two meets, and next year, both the girls’ and boy’s teams hope for even more improvement.
“The girl’s team isn’t losing many senior swimmers, so hopefully we’ll make it back to States next year with even more people,” said Powelson.
No comments:
Post a Comment