by Mike Stirling
Tri-Valley swimmers continue to move forward as the 2019-20 season progresses. Most recently, the Scotties hosted 10 area swim squads in the Tri-Valley Big Dawg Invitational at the Family YMCA in Zanesville on January 20. When finished, the Dawgs boys and girls teams combined for a 4th place finish and saw the girls finish in 2nd place against all other girls teams.
Starting the scoring was the talented girls team of Caroline Holmes, Clare Waggle, Larissa Lynch and Marissa Sees who captured 2nd place in the 200 Yard Medley Relay followed by teammates Macey Felumlee, Emma Lewis, Kayley Harper and Alex Dale. The boys were also impressive as the team of Mason McDaniel, Cyrus Dittmar, Hansel Holmes and Blaine Cox finished in 6th place in the 200 Medley Relay followed by the Scotty foursome of Gabe Lentz, Bret Mohler, Schawn McDonald and Tracy Beale.
With little time to rest, Holmes and Waggle came right back to represent the Scotty girls in the 200 Yard Free where Holmes captured 1st place and Waggle finished 6th. Next were Rhiannon Shaw and Katie Davis for the Tri-Valley girls. Hansel Holmes was the lone entrant for the boys team as he finished 3rd.
Junior Larissa Lynch, swimming the 200 Individual Medley, nailed a 1st place finish by a little over 1/2 second. Lynch was followed by teammates Seryna Mann, and Kayley Harper. Boys swimmers Cyrus Dittmar (4th place), Schawn McDonald and Gabe Lentz swam the 200 IM for the Tri-Valley boys squad.
Next up was the 50 Yard Freestyle. Marissa Sees led the way with a 4th place finish for the girls followed by Emma Meadows and Jade White. Howard Hansel was back in the pool for the boys where he recorded a 3rd place finish followed by Scotties Nathan Sauerbrey and Tracy Beale.
Caroline Holmes led the way in the 100 Yard Butterfly with an impressive 1st place finish ahead of teammates Mariah Clark and Allie Norman. Larissa Lynch finished 3rd in the Girls 100 Yard Backstroke ahead of Mariah Clark, Marissa Sees and Allie Norman. Clark and Sees finished 5th and 6th respectively. Clare Waggle swam a strong 100 Yard Breaststroke to touch in 7th ahead of Alex Dale and Scotties Emma Lewis and Katie Davis.
For the boys team, Sophomore Blaine Cox was the top finisher in the 100 Backstroke (6th place) ahead of Gabe Lentz and Bret Mohler and in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, Tri-Valley was represented by Mason McDonald, Nathan Sauerbrey and Tracy Beale.
Four girls, Macey Felumlee, Emma Lewis, Kayley Harper and Rhiannon Shaw competed in the Girls 100 Yard Freestyle. Both Felumlee and Lewis had new personal best times. As the top finisher for the boys in the 100 Free, Cyrus Dittmar dropped time and was followed by Scotties Mason McDonald and Schawn McDonald.
In the test of endurance, Alex Dale and Emma Meadows both dropped time in the Girls 500 Yard Free while the boys did not have a swimmer in the Boys 500 this week.
Freestyle Relays were the meet finale. Girls relay members Mariah Clark, Seryna Mann, Marissa Sees and Clare Waggle captured 5th place in the Girls 200 Free Relay followed by the team of Felumlee, Harper, Lewis and Norman as well as the foursome of Shaw, White, Meadows and Davis. The boys team of Nathan Sauerbrey, Mason McDaniel, Cyrus Dittmar and Hansel Holmes finished 5th in the Boys 200 Yard Free Relay. The boys dropped time in their event.
For the girls, the 400 Yard Free Relay was the highlight. The team of Seryna Mann, Larissa Lynch, Mariah Clark and Caroline Holmes nailed 1st place followed by Norman, Davis, Shaw and Dale. The speedy relay was 30 seconds ahead of the second-place team from Athens.
On the boys side, the relay squad of Blaine Cox, Schawn McDonald, Bret Mohler and Nathan Sauerbrey came in 7th in their 400 Free Relay to cap the afternoon.
Once again, Tri-Valley was well represented by the Scotty swimmers and continue to swim well.