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In its final home meet of the season, the Rockbridge County High School boys swimming team defeated Valley District rival Turner Ashby, while the RC girls lost to TA on Friday night at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center in Lexington. Also competing well was Parry McCluer High School’s lone swimmer, sophomore Olive King, placing second in her two races.
The RC boys, who had suffered a 78-77 loss to TA when they were missing several swimmers on Dec. 7 at Bridgewater College, overcame the Knights 99-63 on Friday night. “The boys had great redemption,” said RC head coach Erica Bisaillon.
The TA girls, which had defeated the Wildcats 92-49 on Dec. 7, again beat RC girls, who had several swimmers recovering from sickness, 101-54.
At Friday’s meet, the RC boys won four individual races and all three relays, while the RC girls won two individual races.
For the RC boys, junior Will Gibbs won two races, claiming the 200-yard freestyle in 2:56.16 and capturing the 100-yard butterfly in 58.91 seconds to beat freshman teammate Keagan Black, who placed second in 1:04.05. Senior Well Pearson won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.88 seconds, and sophomore Spencer Pfaff took first in the 100-yard freestyle in 52.22, beating senior teammate Max Johnson, who placed second in 1:01.85.
The RC boys won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:48.08. Team members were Black, Pearson, Gibbs and Pfaff. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the RC boys took first in 1:39.71 with team members Black, Pearson, Pearson and junior Grayson Garcia. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Pfaff teamed up with Garcia and seniors Johnson and Benjamin Barney to win in 3:54.45.
For the RC girls, senior Ali Pfaff won the 50-yard freestyle by nearly three seconds, finishing in 24.83. Senior Sofia Vargas claimed the 500-yard freestyle in 6:24.68, winning by about 19 seconds.
For PM, King got close to statequalifying times in both of her second-place races, finishing the 50-yard freestyle in 27.7 seconds and completing the 100-yard freestyle in 1:00.84.
In relays, the RC girls placed second in two relays, completing the 200-yard medley relay in 2:11.83 and finishing the 200-yard freestyle relay in 2:03.59. Team members in the medley relay were Vargas, seniors Abby Hickman and Emma Watkins and junior Greta Guse. Competing in the freestyle relay were Hickman, Vargas, Watkins and sophomore Rio Bucy.
The meet was the Wildcats’ first competition in two-and-a-half weeks. Bisaillon said she was proud of her swimmers for staying dedicated over the holiday break. “The kids worked really hard over break, more practice than usual, two hours a day instead of one-and-a-half.”
Before the meet, the Wildcats honored their seven seniors: boys Barney, Johnson and Pearson and girls Pfaff, Vargas, Hickman and Watkins.
Praising her seniors, who have experienced great success over the last few years, Bisaillon said, “They’ve been great. They bring a liveliness to practice.”
“They work hard, but they have fun while they do it,” the RC coach added.
Bisaillon was pleased with the efforts of her junior class, which had the responsibility of organizing the senior night festivities. “They went above and beyond to recognize the seniors because they love them so much,” she said.
The Wildcats and King were scheduled to compete yesterday, Tuesday, in the Ben Hair Memorial Meet at the University of Virginia. Next up they’ll swim in the All Timesland Invitational on Saturday at the Gator Aquatic Center in Roanoke.
Additional individual swimmers who placed in the top three individually for RC in the home meet were as follows: (Boys) 200-yard freestyle – 3. Grayson Garcia 2:19.68; 200-yard individual medley – 2. Keagan Black 2:18.98; 100-yard butterfly – 3. Garcia 1:06.35; 500-yard freestyle – 2. Benjamin Barney 6:18.1, 3. Chase Lowney 7:13.64; 100yard backstroke – 2. Spencer Pfaff 1:00.72, 3. Roman Stanley 1:31.28; 100-yard breaststroke – 2. Well Pearson 1:13.59.
(Girls) 200-yard freestyle – 3. Greta Guse 2:38.4; 200-yard IM – 3. Rio Bucy 2:45.08; 500-yard freestyle – 3. Lexi Walters 8:04.54; 100-yard backstroke – 2. Guse 1:11.8; 100-yard breaststroke – 2. Abby Hickman 1:24.72.
