by Mike Stirling
As an early Christmas present, Tri-Valley swimmers were in the pool at the Muskingum County Family YMCA (MRC) on Friday, December 20 to test their skills against four very skilled neighboring teams. When the results were in, the Scotties recorded combined wins against two of the four (John Glenn and Garaway) but came up short against St Clairsville and New Philadelphia.
For the boys squad, the team of Mason McDaniel. Cyrus Dittmar, Hansel Holmes and Blaine Cox started the scoring with an impressive second-place finish in the 200 Yard Medley Relay followed by the team of Schawn McDonald, Bret Mohler, Tracy Beale and Gabe Lentz.
Not to be outdone, the girls 200 Yard Medley Relay consisting of Caroline Holmes, Clare Waggle, Larissa Lynch and Marissa Sees captured first for the Lady Scotties followed by the team of Macy Felumlee, Emma Lewis, Alex Dale and Kayley Harper.All four teams (two boys and two girls) dropped times in their respective events.
In the 200 Yard Free, Hansel Holmes was third while McDonald finished sixth for the boys while Claire Waggle finished third for the girls followed by Harper for the ladies.
Caroline Holmes captured first in the Girls 200 Individual Medley. Also swimming this event for Tri-Valley were Katie Davis and Macey Felumlee. Cyrus Dittmar came in third in the boys 200 Yard Individual Medley followed by Senior Tracy Beale.
Larissa Lynch nailed down second in the Girls 50 Free, about .75 behind the first-place finisher. Both were followed by Freshman Emma Lewis. Blane Cox and Bret Mohler represented the boys team in the 50 Free.
Seryna Mann and Alex Dale swam the Girls 100 Yard Butterfly while McDonald and teammate Nathan Sauerbrey swam the event for the Gold and Black. In the Girls 100 Free, Marissa Sees, Macey Felumlee and Kayley Harper were the Scotty entrants.
Freshman Hansel Holmes took second place for the Dawgs in the Boys 100 Free followed by Schawn McDonald, Gabe Lentz and Tracy Beale.
In the marathon race of the meet, the 500 Yard Free, Larissa Lynch won the event with an impressive time of 5:51.30 followed by Emma Lewis. The boys swimmers were Nathan Sauerbrey and Blaine Cox.
Next was the 200 Yard Free Relay which saw the foursome of Sees, Clark, Mann and Holmes finish in second place. Following was the team of Felumlee, Davis, Norman and Dale. On the boys side, Sauerbrey, Lentz, McDonald and McDaniel finished in fourth place for Tri-Valley.
Four swimmers took to the blocks for the Scotty girls in the 100 Yard Backstroke. Waggle finished in third place followed by Mann, Davis and Clark. Cyrus Dittmar was the top finisher for the boys in the Backstroke followed by Gabe Lentz.
Caroline Holmes finished in second place for the Scotties in the Girls 100 Breaststroke with teammates Sees and Norman close behind. Mason McDaniel and Bret Mohler were the boys entrants in the Boys 100 Breaststroke.
To cap the evening, the girls sent the team of Waggle, Clark, Mann and Lynch to represent the Dresden school in the 400 Free Relay. They did not disappoint as they finished in third place followed by teammates Lewis, Davis, Norman and Harper. For the boys team the squad of Sauerbrey, Cox, Dittmar and Holmes finished in third place on the boys side of the ledger.
When the splashing subsided, the Scotties had a very productive meet. As the season progresses, the Tri-Valley swimmers continue to improve and lower their event times