by Mike Stirling
Kenyon College was the host site for the January 4th Viking Classic with a total of 25 area schools signing up to hone their swimming skills. Dresden Tri-Valley High School represented itself well as the combined boys and girls squads finished a very respectable 7th place overall. Individually the girls came in 5th while the young boys team finished 11th.
Event #1 saw the Scotties represented by the teams of Allie Norman, Emma Lewis, Kayley Harper and Katie Davis in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. In the same event the foursome of Caroline Holmes, Claire Waggle, Larissa Lynch and Marissa Sees also competed. Neither team figured in the team scoring. For the Boys, the team of Mason McDaniel, Cyrus Dittmar, Hansel Holmes and Blaine Cox swam the 200 Medley Relay and finished 9th followed by Schawn McDonald, Bret Mohler, Nathan Sauerbrey and Gabe Lentz who established a new personal best time.
Seryna Mann, Allie Norman and Katie Davis were the Scottie girls who swam the 200 Yard Free. Mann had a good swim and finished 13th. Both Norman and Davis had new personal bests. On the boys side, Nathan Sauerbrey was the only Scotty swimmer and dropped about 8 seconds.
Top finisher for Tri-Valley in the Girls 200 Yard IM was Larissa Lynch who finished 7th followed by Mariah Clark and Emma Meadows. Cyrus Dittmar finished 8th for the boys in the 200 IM followed by Blaine Cox. Cox improved his previous best time.
In a field of 157 swimmers who swam the 50 Yard Free, Marissa Sees was the Tri-Valley top finisher at 11th place. Sees was joined by Alex Dale, Emma Lewis, Kayley Harper and Rhiannon Shaw. A total of 107 swimmers dove in the pool for the boys 50 Yard Free. Top finisher was Freshman Hansel Holmes who finished 7th followed by Bret Mohler and Gabe Lentz.
Senior speedster Caroline Holmes touched in 1:01.05 to capture 1st place for the Scotties in the 100 Yard Butterfly and was followed by Mariah Clark. Nathan Sauerbrey was the only entrant for the Dawgs and picked-up 16th place points.
Larissa Lynch led 129 swimmers in the Girls 100 Yard Free as she recorded an impressive 2nd place finish in the crowded field. She was followed by teammates Alex Dale, Kayley Harper, Rhiannon Shaw, Emma Meadows and Jade White. Both Meadows and White recorded new times. Hansel Holmes led the way for the boys in their version of the 100 Yard Free with a 10th place finish followed by Mason McDaniel.
Scotties Claire Waggle and Seryna Mann finished 7th and 9th respectively in the Girls 500 Yard Free followed by Freshman Emma Lewis. For the boys, Blaine Cox was the lone swimmer in the 500 Free for Tri-Valley.
Next up was the Girls 200 Yard Free Relay where the quartet of Mariah Clark, Alex Dale, Seryna Mann and Marissa Sees nailed down 10th place followed by the foursome of Katie Davis, Jade White, Emma Meadows and Rhiannon Shaw. The latter team dropped time in the relay.
Lady Scotties were represented by Marissa Sees in the 100 Yard Backstroke where she finished 16th followed by Allie Norman. Mason McDaniel touched in 12th place for the Dawgs in the Boys 100 Backstroke.
Caroline Holmes notched another top finish as she swam the Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke and finished in 4th place. Teammate Claire Waggle finished in 13th place followed by Katie Davis. Davis dropped 3 seconds in her race. Cyrus Dittmar came in 4th for the boys in the 100 Breaststroke followed by teammates Bret Mohler and Gabe Lentz. Mohler dropped time in his effort.
Caping the meet for the girls was the relay team of Larissa Lynch, Mariah Clark, Claire Waggle and Caroline Holmes who put together an impressive swim to nail down 1st place in the Girls 400 Yard Free Relay. They were about 3 seconds ahead of the second-place squad from Northridge. A second entry from Tri-Valley was made up of Seryna Mann, Allie Norman, Emma Lewis and Alex Dale. The boys team of Mason McDaniel, Nathan Sauerbrey, Cyrus Dittmar and Hansel Holmes touched in 10th place in the Boys 400 Yard Free Relay.
In all, Tri-Valley swimmers performed well in a field of very accomplished swim teams. Each week the Scotties continue to progress as they look forward to finishing the season and accomplishing their individual and team goals.