by Mike Stirling
Tri-Valley swimmers, under the direction of head coach Christi Holmes, seemed to have picked up right where they left off last February… posting impressive times and performances to kick-off the new swim season.
Now known as the Muskingum County Family YMCA (formerly the Recreation Center) the Zanesville facility was the host site for the Second Annual Skyler Gilkerson Meet named for the young swimmer who lost his life early last season.
Scotty swimmers hosted rivals John Glenn, Maysville, Zanesville, Cambridge, Rosecrans, Philo and West Muskingum. When the final tally was posted, the Dresden girls squad piled up 80 points while the boys came in with 62. Both totals were more than three times that of their nearest competition.
Starting the scoring for girls was the speedy foursome of Caroline Holmes, Clare Waggle, Larissa Lynch and Marissa Sees where they cut 3 seconds off their seed time to win the 200 Yard Medley. A second Scotty team of Emma Robinson, Emma Lewis, Alex Dale and Macey Felumlee notched fourth in this event followed by a third team of Katie Davis, Emma Meadows, Rhiannon Shaw and Jade White.
Not to be outdone, the boys team of Mason McDaniel, Cyrus Dittmar, Hansel Holmes and Blaine Cox dropped 6 seconds off their seed time to finish first in the boys 200 Medley Relay.
At the same distance of 200 yards, Freshman Alex Dale bettered her seed time by nearly 4 seconds as she finished in third place for the girls while teammate Blaine Cox finished third for the boys.
In an event requiring swimmers to swim all four strokes, Caroline Holmes and Larissa Lynch finished 1-2 for the girls in the 200 Yard IM. On the boys side of the ledger, Nathan Sauerbrey took first for the boys.
A total of 47 swimmers left the blocks in the 50 Yard Free, 30 for the girls and 17 for the boys team of Scotties. Clare Waggle finished first followed closely by teammate Marissa Sees in second place. Other Scotty competitors included Kayley Harper, Allie Norman, Katie Davis, Emma Meadows and Jade White. Freshman Hansel Holmes had an impressive win for the boys followed by teammate Cyrus Dittmar in fourth place and fellow Scotty Schawn McDonald.
Caroline Holmes was back in the pool to finish first in the 100 Yard Butterfly followed by teammate Rhiannon Shaw in second place and Scotty Emma Meadows. Senior Tracy Beale picked up second place in the boys 100 Yard Butterfly.
Tri-Valley had eight entries in the Girls 100 Free. Larissa Lynch made her presence felt as she notched a first-place besting her competition by nearly 2 seconds. Clare Waggle finished third followed by Seryna Mann in fourth place and Mazie Mallett in fifth. Other competitors for the Scotty girls included Sees, Dale, Lewis and Shaw.
Of the seventeen entries in the Boys 100 Free, Freshman Hansel Holmes captured first in a run-away as he cut nearly 3 seconds off his seed time followed by teammate Mason McDaniel who was fourth in the event.
In the longest race of the meet (the 500 Free) girls representative Macy Felumlee swam for 8.09.03 to wrap up second place for the Lady Scottie while Senior Tracy Beale picked up a first for the boys in the 500 Free.
To represent Tri-Valley in the Girls 200 Free Relay, the team of Sees, Mallett, Mann and Waggle outswam the closest competition to finish in first place followed by the Dresden team of Dale, Harper, Norman and Lewis who finished fourth. A third team of Davis, White, Meadows and Shaw also represented the black and gold.
Boys 200 Yard Free Relay saw the team of Sauerbrey, Cox, McDonald and Beale finish fourth for the dawgs as they equaled their seed time.
Five girls for Tri-Valley swam the 100 Yard Backstroke and finished fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth. Representing the Scottie Girls were Robinson, Felumlee, Nornan, Davis and White. The boys sent three swimmers to the blocks where Junior Mason McDaniel finished first by .27 seconds. Blaine Cox finished fifth followed by Schawn McDonald.
In the last of the individual events, Mazie Mallett finished third in the Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke and teammate Seryna Mann captured fourth. Other finishers were Lewis, Harper and Robinson for the girls. Cyrus Dittmar finished in second place for the Scottie boys followed by Sauerbrey.
To conclude the meet, the relay teams make one final effort to leave their mark. The Girls sent the team of Lynch, Mallett, Mann and Caroline Holmes to represent Tri-Valley in the 400 Yard Free Relay. They did not disappoint as they finished first by 40 seconds. they were followed by the Lady Dawgs team of Norman, Robinson, Felumlee and Harper.
On the boys side, the team of Dittmar, McDaniel, Sauerbrey and Holmes had enough in the tank to capture first in the Boys 400 Free Relay by over 26 seconds.
All in all, the Dresden squad had a very productive meet. New swimmers are learning and progressing while the more experienced swimmers continue to improve. Tri-Valley has an exciting team that will only get better as the season progresses.
