RC Swimmers Win Twice

PM’s King Qualifies For State Again

Both the Rockbridge County High School boys and girls swimming teams defeated Valley District rivals Broadway and Rocktown in their first home meet of the season, while Parry McCluer High School senior girl Olive King swam statequalifying times in two individual races on Friday night at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center in Lexington. For the RC boys, senior Spencer Pfaff, junior Keagan Black and freshman Ru Bucy each won two individual races, with Pfaff setting a new school record in the 200yard freestyle, finishing in 1:50.43.

King qualified for the Class 1 and 2 state meet in the 200-yard individual medley, winning in 2:30.7, and in the 100-yard freestyle, taking first place in 56.62 seconds. In total, she’s qualified in four events, achieving state-qualifying times in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke during the first week of December.

The RC boys eked out an 81-75 win over new district rival Rocktown and cruised to a 101-14 win over Broadway, while the Rocktown boys beat Broadway 10615. The RC girls defeated Rocktown 74-24 and took down Broadway 76-30, while Broadway beat Rocktown 29-22. King, PM’s lone swimmer, was credited with 12 points.

Going over the meet, RC head coach Erica Bisaillon said, “I’m pretty happy with it.” Bisaillon admitted that, going into the meet, she was “a little nervous” because the Wildcats had lost a couple of swimmers due to other commitments.

The RC coach said it didn’t help that the Wildcats had a couple of disqualifications, including in the boys’ 400yard freestyle, but she was glad both teams went undefeated and that a lot of her swimmers set personal records.

Pfaff’s school record in the 200-yard freestyle was 0.24 seconds faster than the previous record of 1:50.67, set by 2017 RC graduate Alex Rush in his eighth-place finish at the state meet in 2016.

In addition to the boys’ 200-yard freestyle, Pfaff, who recently committed to swimming for Division III school Grinnell College in Iowa, won the 100-yard freestyle, clocking 50.21 seconds.

Black, who’s been tapering for a big meet next weekend in Greensboro, N.C., claimed the 100-yard butterfly in 56.49 seconds and won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.2. In the 100yard backstroke, Black had already qualified by time for the Class 3 state meet in the first meet of the season on Dec. 4 in Waynesboro.

Bucy, recovering from illness, won the 50-yard freestyle in 27.41 seconds and captured the 500-yard freestyle in 6:09.34.

Black and Pfaff teamed up with freshmen Ben Gresham and Jacob Barney to win the boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:41.29.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the Wildcats placed second to Rocktown by about four seconds, finishing in 1:58.49. Team members were Black, Barney, Bucy and freshman Leif Guse.

The RC girls won two individual races and all three relays.

Junior Lexi Walters claimed the 500-yard freestyle in 7:33.33, and sophomore Camille Fuentes won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:32.43.

Fuentes and Walters teamed up with senior Rio Bucy and junior Alice Gresham to win the girls’ 200-yard medley in 2:24.11.

The RC girls then won the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays. In the shorter relay, Fuentes and Gresham joined forces with senior Willow Moles and freshman Liesl Niebur to win in 2:21.09. Teaming up to win the longer relay in 5:24.65 were Niebur, Walters, Moles and Rio Bucy, who recently committed to swimming for Division III school Randolph College in Lynchburg.

Pleased with her team’s progress, Bisaillon said, “We’ve been having more and more practice, harder sets, more yardage. We’ve been focusing on, and now we’re a little bit past, fixing technique. We’re still building up, especially for some of the younger swimmers. We have a bunch of freshmen, so we’re at the point where it’s OK.”

Before the holiday break, the Wildcats and King will have a nondistrict home meet against Alleghany on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center.

Additional individual swimmers who placed in the top three individually for RC on Friday were as follows: (Boys) 200-yard individual medley – 3. Guse 2:37.31; 50-yard freestyle – 3. Roman Stanley 29.5; 100-yard backstroke – 3. Stanley 1:26.76; 100-yard breaststroke – 2. Barney 1:19.25, 3. Ben Gresham 1:19.99.

(Girls) 200-yard individual medley – 2. Alice Gresham 3:22.77; 50-yard freestyle – 3. Camille Fuentes 32.67; 100-yard freestyle – 3. Rio Bucy 1:05.8; 100-yard backstroke – 2. Liesl Niebur 1:49.44, 3. Bella Wright 2:00.43; 100-yard breaststroke – 2. Gresham 1:31.32.