Tri-Valley Swim Team Continues to Progress

by Mike Stirling

Tri-Valley swimmers had their final tune-up prior to the upcoming Sr Night and Muskingum County Meet at the MRC on Monday evening, January 28.  The competition was tough as the Scotties were able to best visiting Granville and Northridge but fell to a strong team from Lexington High.

As the Dawgs improve, times continue to drop and many swimmers are swimming events for the first time.  In their meet Saturday a total of 20 new times were established by the girls team while the boys recorded 24 new times.

Granville, Northridge and Lexington brought impressive teams to the MRC but Tri-Valley was not intimidated.  Top finishers in the 200 Yard Medley Relay for the Scotties was the girls team of Clare Waggle, Katya Liber, Mariah Clark and Marissa Sees while the boys countered with Mikal Blackstone, Will Kline, Brady Jacobs-Bell and Mason McDaniel.
Next event was the 200 Free.  Freshman Katya Liber, Seryna Mann and Rhiannon Shaw led the way for the girls as did Eric Allen, Nathan Sauerbrey, Mikal Blackstone and Tracy Beale for the boys.
Sophomore Larissa Lynch finished second ahead of teammates Mariah Clark, Macey Felumlee and Caitlynn  Wriston in the girls 200 Individual Medley and Mason McDaniel, Cyrus Dittmar and Brady Jacobs-Bell represented the boys in the 200 IM.

A total of 35 swimmers dove in the water to compete in the 50 Free (18 girls and 17 boys).  Harper, Norman, Welker and Robinson led the way for the Scotty girls followed by Jacoby, Bumpus, Bell and Cox for the boys team.
Top finisher for the boys in the 100 Butterfly was Senior Will Kline who dropped time in this event.  Larissa Lynch touched in 4th place in the Butterfly event for the Lady Scotties followed by teammates Sees, Davis, and Wriston.  Each of the latter three dropped time in this event.

In spite of problems with the timing system, Chad Bell recorded a new personal best in the 100 Free followed by fellow Seniors Mikal Blackstone and Sean Lacy, both of whom established new personal best times also.  Jacobs-Bell was the other entrant for Tri-Valley for the boys.  Girls swimmers, Mariah Clark, Star Jacobs and Rhiannon Shaw all dropped time for the girls in the 100 Free.  Kayley Harper rounded out the field for the Scotties.

Sophomore Clare Waggle finished the 500 Free in third place, just .61 behind the second place swimmer from Granville.  Emma Robinson was the other entrant for the Dresden squad as she dropped her time by almost 38 seconds.  Ben Jacoby, also, had an impressive swim in the 500 where he dropped about 5 second and finished 3rd.  Jacoby was followed by Keegan Bumpus, Eric Allen and Jacob Merry (all Seniors).

Always an exciting race, the 200 Free Relay was no exception tonight.  Finishing 3rd was the team of Liber, Mann, Sees and Lynch where they set a new personal best followed by the team of Wriston, Harper, Norman and Jacobs.  Also achieving their own personal best was the team of Davis, Shaw, Felumlee and Robinson in the 200 Free Relay.

Once again, the boys team of Allen, Jacoby, Bell and Bumpus flirted with a new school record in the 200 Free Relay but came up about 2 seconds shy to finish in second place.  Capturing 5th place in the event was the Scotty crew of Blackstone, McDaniel, Dittmar and Kline to finish 5th.

In the next to last individual event, the 100 Backstroke, Clare Waggle led the way for teammates Sees, Mann and Jacobs as they represented Tri-Valley girls and Will Kline led the way for teammates Cox, Merry and Beale in the boys 100 Backstroke.  The latter three all established new personal times.
Cyrus Dittmar, Sean Lacy, Nathan Sauerbrey and Mason McDaniel represented the Dawgs in the 100 Breaststroke and each set new personal best times while the girls were led by Katya Liber, Laine Welker, Allie Norman and Macey Felumlee.  Liber, Welker and Norman all posted new best times.

Tri-Valley 400 Yard Free Relay teams had impressive swims for both boys and girls.  Scotty boys team of Allen, Jacoby, Bell and Bumpus finished in 2nd place just missing the Tri-Valley school record followed by teammates Jacobs-Bell, Cox, Merry and Dittmar.  The girls team of Clark, Mann, Waggle and Lynch finished 3rd followed by the team of Shaw, Felumlee, Robinson and Davis to wrap up the competition.

In all, a very productive night against some top competition which pushed the Tri-Valley squad as they all continue to progress.