by Mike Stirling
For the second day in a row, Tri-Valley swimmers took to the blocks to sharpen their skills against very talented swim teams from Watkins Memorial, Hebron Lakewood and Northridge last Saturday, January 9 at the MCFY in Zanesville. Out pointed in several events, the Scotties recorded impressive times including firsts, seconds, thirds and some Tri-Valley swim records.
Although scoring can get a little confusing, in a meet like this one. each school is scored against each of the others individually. Each school, therefore, can accumulate points against each of the competing schools in the same race. If a swimmer has the fastest time of the race, that swimmer would be awarded three-first place finishes (one for the finish against each school in that race.
To begin the scoring, the Tri-Valley relay team of Mason McDaniel, Cyrus Dittmar, Hansel Holmes and Ethan Ankrom recorded the fastest time gainst all schools in the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay and therefore recorded three-first place finishes for the
Dawgs.
Next up for the boys was the 200 Yard Free which was dominated by Cyrus Dittmar as he captured three first-place finishes. He was followed by teammate Arpen Parekh . Hansel Holmes had just established the school record in this event the night before. Continuing from the meet on January 8, Hansel Holmes set a new school record in the 200 Individual Medley where he bested the record set by teammate Cyrus Dittmar in the
Boys 200 Individual Medley the night before. Holmes first-place finish represented three firsts since he was the fasted swimmer in the field of all swimmers in the 200 IM.
Dittmar was a force in the Boys 50 Free as he recorded the fastest time of all Tri-Valley swimmers. He was followed by fellow Dawgs Ethan Ankrom, Gabe Lentz and Arpen Parekh. Blaine Cox swam an impressive 100 Butterfly to record a second and two firsts.
In the Boys 100 Free, Hansel Holmes led the way for Tri-Valley and was followed by teammates Mason McDaniel and Isaac Lanning. In the much longer Boys 500 Free, Ethan Ankrom and Gabe Lentz recorded impressive performances in the 20 lap event.
Blaine Cox was back in the water to represent the Scotties in the Boys 100 Backstroke as was teammate Isaac Lanning. Jonathan Barker and Mason McDaniel were the Tri-Valley representatives in the Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke to close out the individual events for the Dawgs.
Two relays remained for the Dresden based squad. First was the 200 Free Relay which was headed by Dittmar, Cox, McDaniel and Holmes who swam well and were 1 second out of first place. A second Scotty quartet of Lentz, Lanning, Parekh and Barker also added some much-needed points to the Tri-Valley cause.
The finale, the Boys 400 Relay, was staffed by Ankrom, Barker, Lentz and Cox who swam an impressive race of 4-100 yard segments. The foursome posted one first place and two second-place finishes to put their stamp on a successful boys meet.
On the girls side of the ledger, many impressive times were recorded. Relay events began with the Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay in which Abri Mallett, Mazie Mallett, Claire Waggle and Jesi Fuhriman finished in top position as they recorded two firsts and one second. Close behind were Allie Norman, Katie Davis, Emma Lewis and Mia Fuhriman followed by Avery Dunn, Chloe Berry, Rhiannon Shaw and Ava Harris.
A total of twelve Tri-Valley girls made up three relay squads to swim in the Girls 200 Yard Relay. Seryna Mann, Jesi Fuhriman, Alex Dale and Larissa Lynch made up team (A) which finished in first place amongst all competition. Close behind was the Scotty team (B) of Mia Fuhriman, Allie Norman, Emma Pratt and Abri Mallett followed by (C) Anna Thomas, Chloe Berry, Ava Harris and Rhiannon Shaw.
In the final event of the meet, the relay team of Clare Waggle, Alex Dale, Seryna Mann and Larissa Lynch defeated all competition to finish first against each school. A very talented foursome of Mazie Mallett, Avery Dunn, Emma Lewis and Emma Pratt touched the pads to record two seconds and a third place in the event.
Clare Waggle captured the Girls 50 Free as Freshman Jesi Fuhriman picked up two seconds and a third. Abri Mallett, Mazie Mallett, Avery Dunn, Annika Lindsey and Chloe Berry followed. Senior Larissa Lynch didn’t disappoint as she picked up three firsts and led teammate Alex Dale to the finish in the Girls 100 Free. They were followed by fellow Scotties Pratt, Norman, Lewis, Jesi Fuhriman, Dunn, Thomas, Harris and Berry.
The Girls 200 Free was won by Larissa Lynch who recorded faster times than all of her competition and was followed by teammate Alex Dale. Seryna Mann captured two firsts in the Girls 200 IM and was pushed by fellow Dawgs Allie Norman and Mia Fuhriman.
In the Girls 500 Free (20 Laps), Clare Waggle again demonstrated her strength as she won the event against Hebron and Northridge and was only beaten by 6 seconds by the Watkins swimmer. Scotty Katie Davis added second, third and fourth place points for her efforts.
Mazie Mallett, and Rhiannon Shaw represented Tri-Valley in the 100 Butterfly event where they swam well and picked up a first, second, a third and a fourth. The Girls 100 Yard Backstroke was equally exciting as Abri Mallett, Seryna Mann, Emma Pratt and Mia Fuhriman swam for the Black and Gold and recorded two firsts and two seconds.
In the Girls 100 Breaststroke, Sophomore Emma Lewis picked up two first place finishes along with one third while teammate Katie Davis recorded two second place spots.
All-in-all, the Scotties swam well and look forward to the upcoming meet with local competition from West Muskingum, Rosecrans, Cambridge, Philo and Maysville on Friday, January 15 at the MCFY.