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In their first home meet of the season, the Rockbridge County High School boys and girls swimming teams, facing Valley District competition, both defeated East Rockingham but fell to Spotswood in front of supportive fans on Friday night at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center in Lexington. Parry McCluer High School junior Olive King, the lone swimmer for the Fighting Blues, won the girls’ 50-yard and 500-yard freestyle races, qualifying in the longer race for the Class 1 and 2 state meet.
The Spotswood boys earned a 73-70 win over the RC boys, who were winning before the final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, but they were disqualified from the relay due to an early take-off by one of their swimmers. The Wildcats defeated East Rockingham 78-50, and Spotswood defeated ER 76-52.
Reviewing the mishap by the relay team, RC head coach Erica Bisaillon said, “Every failure is a learning opportunity, always, and this was a harsh one because they would’ve had their state cut, but now they’re gonna know from here on out, if you make a mistake once, you’re not gonna make it again.”
In the girls’ duals, the Wildcats beat ER 51-26 and defeated PM 46-12, but they lost to Spotswood 94-38. Spotswood bested ER 92-28 and beat PM 102-12, and ER defeated PM 30-12.
King, competing in the 500-yard freestyle for the first time, won the race in 6:00.76, nearly 12 seconds ahead of the runner-up from Spotswood. She had already qualified for the state meet in the 50-yard freestyle in which she won in a personal-record (PR) time of 26.42 seconds. King, who also competed in a club meet on Friday and Saturday mornings, had achieved a state-qualifying time in the 100-yard freestyle on Dec. 2 in Christiansburg in the second meet of the season.
Pleased with King’s progress, Bisaillon said, “This past year, she stopped playing volleyball to focus on swimming, so she’s building a lot of confidence and experience.”
The RC boys won five individual races and the 200-yard medley relay.
In the relay, the Wildcats took first by about 26 seconds over ER, finishing in 1:50.32. Team members were Spencer Pfaff, Keagan Black, Will Gibbs and Grayson Garcia.
Pfaff won two races, the 200-yard freestyle in 1:55.64 and the 100-yard butterfly in 57.19. The previous Saturday in Christiansburg, Pfaff had achieved Class 3 state-qualifying times in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races, so he was trying other races.
Garcia won the 50-yard freestyle in a PR time of 24.91 and placed second in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.16, while Gibbs claimed the 500-yard freestyle in 5:32.51 and placed second in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:03.06. Black took first in the 100-yard backstroke in 56.77 in which he’d achieved a state-qualifying time for the previous Saturday. Like King, Black was also competing in a club meet on Friday and Saturday mornings, so he only raced in one individual race and the three relays at Friday night’s meet.
Bisaillon said that Gibbs, a senior who has been busy with college applications, has been working hard at achieving statequalifying times in distance races.
Also stepping up for the RC boys were Chase Lowney, who placed second in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:08.82, and Roman Stanley, finishing third in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:23.92.
The RC girls won the 200-yard medley relay in 2:33.40, more than three seconds ahead of runner-up Spotswood. Team members were Rowan Moles, Greta Guse, Rio Bucy and Lexi Walters.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, with the same four team members, the RC girls placed second to Spotswood in 5:02.79.
The top individual finisher for the RC girls was Moles, placing second in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:21.55. Bucy placed third in two races, the 50-yard freestyle in 29.52 and the 500-yard freestyle in 6:32.01.
Bisaillon noted that several of her swimmers were competing in races that they don’t normally swim in and, especially for the girls, they were trying to get good 500-yard freestyle times. “They all did really well,” she said.
Also competing in the girls’ 500-yard freestyle for the Wildcats were Guse (fourth, 7:04) and Walters (fifth, 7:41.85).
For the RC boys, sophomore River Jenkins tried out the 500-yard freestyle, placing second in 8:33.02. “He did really well for his first time,” said Bisaillon.
Before the holiday break, the Wildcats and King are scheduled to compete in two more meets. They’ll swim at the Alleghany YMCA today, Wednesday, before holding a home meet against Valley District rival Broadway on Friday. Both meets are scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
