Swim Team Finishes Strong at Final Stop

By Mike Stirling

Tri-Valley swimmers boarded the bus for the final time this 2018-19 swim season to compete, as a team, in the Sectional meet in Steubenville, Ohio.  One of 22 high schools in the East District, the Scotties made their presence felt as the Dresden based squad was able to post a combined girls/boys point total which placed them in a tie for third place with Martins Ferry High School and  behind very strong teams from Dover High School and St. Clairsville High School.

Highlights for the Dawgs included the individual performance of Junior Caroline Holmes as she qualified to move on to the District meet scheduled for Friday, February 15 at OSU where she will represent Tri-Valley in the 200 Yard Freestyle and the 100 Yard Backstroke.  Holmes qualified 11th in the 200 Free and 6th in the 100 Back.

In addition, the Scotties qualified three girls relay teams and three boys relay teams and will send eleven swimmers to compete at OSU on Friday.  A total of 27 ‘best times‘ were established by the team as overall improvement continued, to the pleasure of Coach Christi and Coach Susan.

To add a little more excitement, the relay teams (boys and girls) have one more opportunity this swim season, to establish new Tri-Valley relay records.  Existing marks for the girls are as follows:  200 Yard Medley Relay-1:59.23, 200 Free Relay-1:44.30 and the 400 Yard Free Relay-3:51.51.  On the boys side the existing marks are as follows: 200 Yard Medley Relay-1:50.73, 200 Free Relay- 1:37.79 and the 400 Free Relay-3:39.00.  The boys 400 Free Relay mark was set in 2003 for the Scotties.

Representing Tri-Valley in the Sectionals on Saturday was the Medley Relay team of Caroline Holmes, Clare Waggle, Mariah Clark and Katya Liber.  This squad finished 4th and will go on Districts next Friday.  The boys team of Eric Allen, Chad Bell, Keegan Bumpus and Ben Jacoby captured their own 4th place to punch their ticket to the Districts in the 200 Medley Relay event.

Next qualifying relay for the girls was the 400 Free Relay where Clark, Liber, Waggle and Larissa Lynch touched 3rd and the boys team just missed the TV record (again) as the team of Allen, Jacoby, Bell and Bumpus finished 4th to qualify for the district meet at OSU.

A third strong effort for both boys and girls was that of the 200 Free Relay.  Lady Scotties Larissa Lynch, Marissa Sees, Clare Waggle and Caroline Holmes combined to finish 3rd as the foursome of Allen, Jacoby, Bell and Bumpus put together four excellent swims to finish 2nd (.25 ahead of third place River View).  Both boys and girls qualified for Districts.

With the exception of the two qualifying swims by Caroline Holmes, none of the other Scotties individual swims qualified for Districts.  Many, however, were notable performances and demonstrated improvement and progress on the part of Tri-Valley swimmers.

Sophomore Larissa Lynch turned in a good performance in the 200 Free but was just shy of a qualifying time for Districts as was Marissa Sees.  Seryna Mann and Star Jacobs represented the Scotties in the 200 IM and, once again, Jacobs dropped time in the event as did Kayley Harper.
Swimmers Marissa Sees and Katya Liber finished 10th and 13th respectively in the 50 Free.  Sees dropped nearly 1 second.  Both Emma Robinson and Laine Welker also swam the 50 Free and both dropped time.

Mariah Clark, Caitlynn Wriston and Rhiannon Shaw swam the 100 Butterfly.  Clark finished 10th in the event.  In the 100 Breaststroke, Star Jacobs led the way for TV followed by teammates Kayley Harper, Laine Welker and Allie Norman.

Three Lady Scotties were on the blocks for the TV team.  Larissa Lynch, Mariah Clark and Katya Liber finished 2nd, 10th and 12th and teammate Seryna Mann posted a new personal time in the event.

Clare Waggle was in the pool for the 500 Free and once again swam well as she recorded a new personal best time and finished 8th. Teammate Allie Norman also dropped time in the 500 Free as did Macey Felumlee.

Qualifying for Districts in the 100 Backstroke, Caroline Holmes finished in 1st place as she led teammates Emma Robinson, Rhiannon Shaw and Macey Felumlee.  All of the later three posted new personal best times.

Once again, the boys team was led by seniors who will be departing at the end of this school year.  Promising younger swimmers, however, are waiting in the wings to make their talents known.  Senior Keegan Bumpus helped lead the way as he finished 4th in the 200 Yard Free followed by fellow Senior Sean Lacy and Freshman Blaine Cox.

Chad Bell, a key player in the relay successes, captured 3rd place in the 200 Yard IM followed by Sophomore Mason McDaniel and Freshman Nathan Sauerbrey.  A third member of the relay team, Senior Ben Jacoby tuned up for the relay as he swam the 50 Free and was followed by Sophomore Cyrus Dittmar, Senior Mikal Blackstone and much improved Junior Tracy Beale.

Nathan Sauerbrey and Jacob Merry were the Tri-Valley entrants in the 100 Butterfly and Senior Eric Allen was the 10th place finisher in the 100 Free followed by teammates Mikal Blackstone, Will Kline and Brady Jacobs-Bell.  Senior Jacob Merry was the lone entrant for the Scotties in the 500 Free.

Cyrus Dittmar, Sean Lacy and Brady Jacobs-Bell swam the 100 Breaststroke.  Both Dittmar and Jacobs-Bell dropped time in their swims.  All-in-all, Scotty swimmers performed well against some strong competition.  Both boys and girls teams gained a ton of experience during a lengthy swim season.  The Seniors led the way and the underclassmen learned and progressed.  Next swim season promises to be exciting and all wish those going on to Districts next Friday much success.