by Mike Stirling
For Tri-Valley swimmers, the new year of 2024 started with a splash. Hosted at the Muskingum County Family YMCA, the Boys and Girl squads from Dresden gave a preview of what we can expect this swim year as eight local teams accepted the Scotties invitation to join them in Zanesville for the evening.
On the girls side, the team of Dani Stewart, Mia Fuhriman, sister Jesi Fuhriman and Sarah Jacoby captured the 200 Yard Medley Relay as they won the race by nearly two seconds. Teammates Kendyll Buckner, Braylie Burkey, Gabby Hensel and Addison Durst were not far behind. Just a short time later, the same foursome of Burkey, Durst, Buckner and Hensel finished third in the 200 Yard Free Relay followed by fellow Scotties Dara Wilson, Macey Bailey, Alaina Roberts and Brianna Clark.
Doubling the distance, the Fuhriman sisters were joined by Dani Stewart and Sara Jacoby touching first in the culminating girls 400 Yard Free Relay as they won by 29 seconds. Lady Scotties Wilson, Bailey Roberts and Clark also were Tri-Valley representatives.
A total of six girls were entered in the 50 Yard Free which was won by Jesi Fuhriman just ahead of teammate Dani Stewart. Following them were Burkey, Durst, Clark and Bailey. Swimmers Addison Durst, Brianna Clark and Alaina Roberts swam the 100 Free for the Dresden squad. In the 200 Free, sophomore Sarah Jacoby finished in first place by about 11 seconds with Kendyll Buckner close behind.
In the marathon event, the 500 Free, senior Jesi Fuhriman reduced her previous BEST by 35 seconds to take first followed by fellow Scotty Dani Stewart in second place. Senior swimmer Mia Fuhriman was back on the starting blocks where she came in second place in the 200 Yard Individual Medley as teammate Dara Wilson finished fifth.
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly saw Mia Fuhriman finish third followed by teammate Gabby Hensel. Hensel also represented the Scotties in the 100 Yard Backstroke finishing fourth. Other finishers for the Dresden girls were Dara Wilson, Alaina Roberts and Macey Bailey. Sarah Jacoby picked up a third place finish in the 100 Yard Breaststroke with Braylie Burkey a few seconds back.
Not to be outdone, Scotty Boys also turned in impressive swims. A foursome of AJ Lawler, Danny Jiang, Carter Dinan and Dallin Stirling finished the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay in third place followed by teammates Jack Morehouse, Aiden Lentz, Garrett Stirling and Sam Wegner.
A Boys 200 Yard Free Relay team of Aiden Lentz, Jack Morehouse, Kollin Buckner and Sam Wegner touched the pads in third place with teammates Caden Blake, Isaac Lanning, Jaxon Hammond and Owen Harney coming in fifth for the Scotties.
Six Tri-Valley boys swam the ever popular Boys 50 Free with AJ Lawler and Carter Dinan finishing third and fourth respectively. They were joined by Dallin Stirling, Aiden Lentz, Garrett Stirling and Jaxson Hammond. The Boys 100 Free saw Scotty swimmers Lentz and Harney touching in third and fourth followed by Morehouse and Jiang.
Sam Wegner and fellow Scotty Owen Harney finished first and third in the 200 Yard Freestyle and Sophomore AJ Lawler captured the Boys 500 Freestyle followed by an impressive swim by Garrett Stirling where he dropped 22 seconds from his previous BEST. In the 200 Yard Individual Medley, Caden Blake finished fourth with Isaac Lanning close behind.
In the specialty events, Tri-Valley boys performed well. With little previous experience, Carter Dinan finished fourth for the Dawgs in the Boys 100 Yard Butterfly followed by Kollin Buckner.
Sam Wegner, Kollin Buckner and Jack Morehouse came-in sixth, seventh and eighth with Jaxson Hammond and Isaac Lanning a few seconds back.
Tri-Valley sent two swimmers to represent the Dawgs in the Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke. Danny Jiang finished second and Dallin Stirling came in fourth, just a few seconds back.
A final relay capped the meet as the foursome of Carter, Buckner, Dallin Stirling and Lawler captured first place in the 400 Yard Free Relay followed by Scotties Harney, Jiang, Blake and Garrett Stirling who finished third.
Each meet is exciting and the team, as a whole, continues to improve to the delight of Coach Holmes as well as all the Tri-Valley swim fans.
Tri-Valley swimmers went on the road to Athens Ohio where they co-hosted a very impressive meet at the Ohio University Aquatic Center on January 6th. In total, twenty five schools were represented with many fine athletes participating.
For the Scotty squad, Savannah Brooks, Mia and Jesi Fuhriman and Sarah Jacoby set the pace in the girls 200 Yard Medley Relay with AJ Lawler, Owen Harney, Carter Dinan and Dallin Stirling leading the boys in their version of the 200 Medley Relay. A second foursome of Kendyll Buckner, Dani Stewart, Gabby Hensel and Erica Lewis swam the same race for the girls while Jack Morehouse, Danny Jiang, Garrett Stirling and Sam Wegner swam the Medley for the Dawgs.
Next on the lineup was the girls 100 Yard Individual Medley followed by the boys IM. Top finisher for the Lady Scotties was Savannah Brooks followed by Dani Stewart, Erica Lewis Kendyll Buckner, Adisson Durst, Dara Wilson and Brianna Clark. AJ Lawler led the boys with Kollin Buckner, Garrett Stirling, Sam Wegner and Owen Harney following.
Tri-Valley girls placed six swimmers in the 50 Yard Breaststroke led by Senior Mia Fuhrman and Sophomore Sarah Jacoby. They were joined by Braylie Burkey, Erin Lewis, Dara Wilson and Brianna Clark. Owen Harney Danny Jiang, Dallin Stirling and Jaxson Hammond represented the boys breaststrokers. Jack Morehouse and Caden Blake were the lone entrants in the 100 Backstroke and represented the Dresden school well.
Senior Jesi Fuhriman finished a strong race as she touched the pads in second place in a field of 131 swimmers. Teammate Sarah Jacoby finished fourteenth followed by Gabby Hensel, Braylie Burkey, Addison Durst, Kendyll Buckner, Alaina Roberts and Macey Bailey. AJ Lawler led the boys with a thirteenth place finish with teammates Carter Dinan, Aiden Lentz, Dallin Stirling, Kollin Buckner, Garrett Stirling, Sam Wegner, Caden Blake, Jaxson Hammond and Isaac Lanning not far behind in a field of 98 swimmers.
Showing how it is done, both the boys and girls were represented by two foursomes in the respective 200 Yard Freestyle Relay races. Finishing sixth, the team of Brooks, Jacoby and the Fuhriman twins swam impressive races and were followed by the team of Hensel, Burkey, Erica Lewis and Stewart. On the boys side, AJ Lawler was joined by Scotties Wegner, Dinan and Dallin Stirling to finish seventh (just a few seconds behind the leader). A second team of Buckner, Garrett Stirling, Morehouse and Lentz swam a strong race of their own.
Savannah Brooks was the top Tri-Valley finisher in the girls 50 Backstroke where she was followed by teammates Erin Lewis, Dara Wilson, Alaina Roberts and Macey Bailey. Junior Jack Morehouse led the boys in the 50 Back finishing tenth with Owen Harney and Isaac Lanning close behind.
Fuhriman twins Jesi and Mia represented the Scotties well as they finished fourth and ninth respectively in the girls 100 Yard Free. They were joined by Sarah Jacoby (fourteenth) and Gabby Hensel, Braylie Burkey, Erin Lewis, Brianna Clark and Alaina Roberts. Dawgs Carter Dinan, Aiden Lentz, Caden Blake and Danny Jiang led the way for Tr-Valley in the boys 100 Free.
Event 19 was the girls 50 Yard Butterfly. Top finisher for Tri-Valley was Dani Stewart followed by teammates Gabby Hensel, Erica Lewis and Kendyll Buckner. Sophomore AJ Lawler led all Tri-Valley swimmers in the boys 50 Yard Butterfly just ahead of teammates Carter Dinan, twins Garrett and Dallin Stirling, Sam Wegner, Kollin Buckner, Jack Morehouse and Isaac Lanning.
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke was up next where Jesi and Mia Fuhriman finished third and sixth respectively just ahead of fellow Scotties Savannah Brooks and Erica Lewis. For the boys, Danny Jiang led the Scotties followed by Jaxon Hammond.
To cap the events, Tri-Valley entered a team in a Mixed 200 Yard Medley Relay. Each team had to have two boys and two girls swimming. The Scotties team was composed of Caden Blake and Kollin Buckner for the boys and they were joined by Braylie Burkey and Addison Durst for the girls. It was a fun race where the Dresden crew finished eleventh.
As the water settled, all agreed it was a fun meet as well as tiring for both swimmers and coaches. In summary, it was a great effort in preparation for the Scotties next test on January 10th in Zanesville.
