RC’s Pfaff Wins Two State Titles

Five Boys Guide Wildcats To Sixth Place

Rockbridge County High School senior swimmer Spencer Pfaff went out on top, winning two individual championships and breaking a state meet record at the Class 3 state meet on Tuesday of last week at the SwimRVA Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond. With five boys competing, the Wildcats placed sixth of 33 teams.

Pfaff repeated as the state champion in the 50-yard freestyle and won the 100-yard freestyle. In the preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle, he finished in 20.53 seconds, breaking 2004 RC graduate William Copeland’s state meet record from when Copeland won the state title in 2004. Copeland won several state titles as a Wildcat and went on to swim for the University of California, Berkeley before competing in the Olympic trials three times, narrowly missing qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team in his final attempt in 2016.

Commenting on that accomplishment, Pfaff said, “Growing up, I heard William Copeland’s name a lot, and I knew he was really fast. I watched him swim at the Olympic Trials on TV. Last year, I realized that his 50 free high school record might be attainable. This year, I was trying to break it at every meet. Towards the end of the season, it was looking a little iffy because so many of our meets were cancelled due to snow. So, I was really happy that I was able to break that record at my last high school meet.”

Pfaff’s winning time in the finals of the 50-yard freestyle was almost as fast, 20.61 seconds, more than a second ahead of the runner-up, Western Albemarle’s Sam Bledsoe, who finished in 21.7 seconds.

In the 100-yard freestyle, after he had placed second at the Region 3C meet, Pfaff won the state title in 46.76 seconds, a personal record. New Kent’s Finn Leggett placed second in 47.3 seconds. Copeland still holds the meet record in the event.

Going over his individual performances, Pfaff said, “I was really happy to be able to bring home two state titles. It was cool breaking the Class 3 record in the 50 free, especially considering my sister Ali [now swimming for Duke University] is a high school state record holder.”

As a team, the RC boys scored 116 points, and their sixth-place finish was just two spots off last year’s fourth-place finish. Western Albemarle defended its state title with 465 points, Lafayette (200) placed second, Meridian (164) finished third, and Grafton (147) came in fourth. Just ahead of the Wildcats was Liberty Christian Academy (127). Rounding out the top 10 teams were Monticello (112), Maggie Walker (112), Goochland (109) and Kettle Run (82).

In addition to Pfaff, the Wildcats had two other individual swimmers at the state meet. Junior Keagan Black earned two medals by placing in the top six in two races, placing fifth in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Black finished in 52.1 seconds, breaking his own school record. He wasn’t far behind the winner, Meridian’s Ryan Southern, who clocked 50.79 seconds. In the 100-yard backstroke, Black finished in 52.65 seconds. Grafton’s Ryan Griffith won in 48.9 seconds.

RC’s Ru Bucy capped an impressive freshman year as an individual by placing 17th in the preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle, one place from advancing to finals, in 5:40.79.

Pfaff, Bucy and Black teamed up with freshman Ben Gresham to place sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a season-best time of 1:34.52. Western Albemarle won the race in 1:28.51.

The RC boys placed eighth in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:44.23. Team members were Black, Pfaff, Gresham and freshman Jacob Barney.

Leading up to the state meet, the Wildcats and other teams had to deal with a lot of schedule changes. After the RC boys had their Valley District meet canceled and made into a virtual/paper meet due to inclement weather, the Region 3C meet was postponed due to a winter storm. The Wildcats placed third at the Region 3C meet on Feb. 15 in Charlottesville.

The state meet was originally scheduled to take place on Feb. 21 at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, but it was postponed to last Tuesday due to a winter storm and moved to Richmond by the Virginia High School League. In addition, the Wildcats had some regular-season meets canceled or postponed due to inclement weather.

Addressing the challenges of the schedule, RC head coach Erica Bisaillon said, “The constantly shifting schedule for this postseason was by far the most difficult challenge I’ve faced as head coach. We develop a training plan and taper schedule for the entire season based on championship competition dates, and every time something changes, our training plan has to adjust. Swim is tricky in that more time between the regional and state meets isn’t necessarily the most beneficial.”

“Postseason preparation is extremely challenging at it is,” added Bisaillon. “Each swimmer has individual needs that must be met based on the event(s) they’re swimming, the way their body responds to rest, and other factors. But, considering the successes we had, I would say the kids took every change in stride.”

The rescheduled state meet also presented a challenge for Pfaff and Black, who were competing in the Virginia Swimming Senior Championships, a four-day meet that started just two days after the state meet.

Pfaff, who will continue his academic and swimming career at Division III school Grinnell College in Iowa, is one of just four seniors who swam for the Wildcats this year. The RC boys will also graduate freestyle swimmer Roman Stanley.

The RC girls, who did not have any state qualifiers but had five individual regional qualifiers and one regional- qualifying relay team, will graduate Rio Bucy and Willow Moles. Bucy, a regional qualifier in the 50-yard and 500-yard freestyle races, will continue her academic and swimming career at Division III school Randolph College in Lynchburg. Moles was a regional qualifier in the 100-yard backstroke.

Of her seniors, Bisaillon said, “Losing team leaders each year is difficult, but is a natural part of high school sports. Every senior leaves a legacy, and Spencer has been a motivator for so many of the younger swimmers. Now we wait and see if that passion and commitment he helped inspire continues to grow.”

Bisaillon is optimistic about the future for her freshman boys who competed at the state meet. “I’m extremely thrilled with how the season turned out for Ru Bucy, Ben Gresham, and Jacob Barney,” she said. “They all saw significant improvement from the beginning of the season Bucy dropped almost 30 seconds on his 500-yard freestyle, Barney dropped over 12 seconds on his 100-yard breaststroke, and Gresham dropped a little under three seconds on his 50-yard freestyle. All of these improvements led to them qualifying for states in the relays and for Ru, his individual 500. I have high hopes for them over the course of the next three years. “

Pfaff was also pleased with how the team did this season and is optimistic about the Wildcats’ future. “I think that considering all the swimmers we lost last year, we did really well,” he said. “This year’s freshman class was very strong, and Keagan always swims fast, so I think the team is set up well for next year.”