RC Swimmers Defeat Alleghany

Both the Rockbridge County High School boys and girls swimming teams defeated Alleghany in their home meet at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center on Dec. 20 in Lexington, with senior Spencer Pfaff swimming a state-qualifying time in the boys’ 100-yard butterfly and setting a new school record in the boys’ 200-yard individual medley, winning both races. Parry McCluer High School senior Olive King swam a state-qualifying time of 5:46.63 in winning the girls’ 500-yard freestyle.

The RC boys cruised to a 119-18 win over Alleghany, a nondistrict rival, while the RC girls earned a 68-58 victory over the Cougars. King, PM’s lone swimmer, was credited with 12 points.

Proud of her swimmers, RC head coach Erica Bisaillon said, “It’s really nice to see that they’re actually taking the information and the things that we’re working on and applying it in their races, and they’re getting more cognizant of how to swim a race.”

“This meet, specifically, with a couple of exceptions, it was an off-event meet, which means they’re doing the events they’re bad at, the events they don’t swim very frequently, and just getting a feel for something other than what they have been doing,” added Bisaillon.

Pfaff won the boys’ 100yard butterfly in 54.5 seconds, qualifying by time for the Class 3 state meet, and claimed the boys’ 200-yard individual medley in 2:04.8. In the first week of December, Pfaff had already qualified for the state meet in the 50-yard freestyle, which he won the state title in last year, and the 100-yard freestyle.

In addition to the girls’ 500-yard freestyle, King won the girls’ 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 2:04.84. She had already qualified for the Class 1 and 2 state meet in the 200-yard freestyle in the first week of December. In total, she has qualified in five events.

For fun, King teamed up with three eighth-graders – Dasha Billias, Lelia Mc-Cown and Reagan Imler – to swim the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay, which did not count in the results.

In addition to Pfaff’s wins, a strong performance from the RC boys came from freshman Ru Bucy, who won the 500-yard freestyle in a personal-record time of 5:59.48. “That’s fantastic,” said Bisaillon, who said Bucy is one of “a bunch of really good, fast freshmen.”

The RC boys won eight individual races and all three relays.

Freshman Jacob Barney won the boys’ 200-yard freestyle in 2:25.82 and claimed the 100-yard freestyle in 1:02.93.

In the boys’ 50-yard freestyle, freshman Leif Guse won in 28.07 seconds, and senior Roman Stanley placed second in 29.23. Guse also placed second in the 500yard freestyle in 6:18.45.

Freshman Ben Gresham won the boys’ 100-yard backstroke in 1:22.24, and junior River Jenkins captured the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:29, with Bucy placing second in 1:33.81.

The RC boys won the 200yard medley in 2:08.26 with team members Stanley, Gresham, Guse and Bucy. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Pfaff and Jenkins teamed up with Stanley and Bucy to win in 1:48.04. For the 400-yard freestyle, Guse and Barney joined forces with Gresham and Pfaff to win in 4:12.09.

It was a successful night for the RC boys, who were missing one of their top swimmers, junior Keagan Black. He was away to compete in a big midseason meet in Greensboro, N.C., with college coaches attending.

The RC girls won two individual races and the 200yard freestyle relay.

RC sophomore Camille Fuentes won the girls’ 200yard individual medley in 3:23.29 and placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:42.72., while junior teammate Lexi Walters claimed the 100-yard freestyle in 1:14.39.

The RC girls won the 200yard freestyle in 2:13.69. Team members were Fuentes, Walters and seniors Rio Bucy and Willow Moles.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the RC girls placed second in 2:36.7 with team members Fuentes, Bucy, Moles and freshman Liesl Niebur.

After the holiday break, the Wildcats will compete in the Ben Hair Memorial Meet on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m. at the University of Virginia Aquatic & Fitness Center in Charlottesville. The next home meet for King and the Wildcats is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m. against Valley District rival Spotswood 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 freestyle – 2. Emil Hierman 2:41.72, 3. Luke Eichholz 3:24.11; 200yard individual medley – 2. Jenkins 3:07.01; 100-yard freestyle – 2. Dmitriy Billias 1:16.23, 3. Peyton Chaoyong 1:43.39; 500-yard freestyle – 3. Hierman 7:32.77; 100-yard backstroke – 2. Eichholz 1:35.55.

(Girls) 200-yard freestyle – 2. Rio Bucy 2:23.69, 3. Walters 2:41.47; 100-yard freestyle – 2. Moles 1:24.04; 3. Niebur 1:24.22; 500-yard freestyle – 2. Bucy 6:20.79; 100-yard backstroke – 2. Moles 1:36.79.