In both swimming and diving, competitors have only seconds to make a statement. All of their hard work over the course of the season culminates in several minutes’ worth of competition, leaving them little room for error. One off day can end a season, so come regionals, swimmers and divers are either prepared to win or destined to go home empty-handed.
The Atoms were sure to make their mark in regional competition, as the 13 swim and dive team members who advanced to regionals placed highly in both relays and individual events from Feb. 1-5 at Oakmarr RECenter.
For diving, freshman Allie Vogus placed 12th overall of girls in the Northern Region, and junior Paige Blennerhassett placed 15th. Junior Patrick McCann placed 5th among the boys, and sophomore Clark Girardin placed 20th. McCann is the sole AHS diver continuing on to states.
“Patrick’s got a chance, if he dives well, to finish 2nd or 3rd in the state,” head coach Neal Jarvis said.
“The dive team went into regionals with a lot of team spirit, including bleached and red dyed hair,” Vogus said. “I was pretty psyched to be part of this team at regionals as a freshman.”
In the swim portion of the regional competition, senior Kyle Tyrrell placed 8th in the 100-yard butterfly, and 2nd in the 100-yard backstroke, which qualified him for state competition in both events. In doing so, he broke his own school records in both the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly. Senior Anna Smith placed 10th in the 100-yard freestyle and 17th in the 50-yard freestyle events. Individual events went as well as expected, with both competitors placing strongly in the region.
Relays seemed to be the team’s strong suit at the regional meet, with both boys and girls competing in the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. On the boys side, the 200-yard team of junior Adam Wattenbarger, senior Ryan Keck, junior Willie Labarca and Tyrrell placed 12th. The 400-yard team of Wattenbarger, Keck, sophomore Daniel Jessen and Tyrrell placed 10th. For the girls, the 200-yard team of senior Lauren Barnard, sophomore Jennifer Jessen, senior Kelsey Price and Smith placed 15th. The girls 400-yard team of Barnard, Jessen, Price and Smith also placed 15th overall. Of these relays, the boys 200-yard team will be advancing to states, rounding out the number of swim and dive competitors that will be representing AHS among some of Virginia’s best teams next week.
“The boys relay team did awesome; they had great chemistry and each one swam really well to make the state cut,” assistant coach Donna Kruse said.
Overall, there is satisfaction among the swim and dive team members and coaches about their performance at the regional level.
“[Regionals went] amazing. 11 of our 12 swimmers made finals,” Jarvis said. “Everybody had best times. We set two new school records and we had four entries to state.”
According to Jarvis, 86 % of the team recorded best times in their final meet of the season, whether it was districts, regionals, or in the regular season. AHS belongs to the most competitive region in the state, so they hope that this helped to prepare them for the competition.
“We all got our personal best times and our coach, Jarvis, was very happy with our results,” Barnard said. With both girls relay teams shaving seconds off their times, two school records being broken again and placements among the top 10 schools in the region, there is good reason for the team to feel pleased about their results.
“We trained hard and are proud of how we did,” Vogus said.
The five Atoms continuing their season will be competing in states on Feb. 18-19, where Jarvis expects Tyrrell, who is currently seeded second in the state, to have a shot at the state title in the 100-yard backstroke. There he will have a chance to defeat top seed Philip Hu, who beat Tyrrell by six hundredths of a second in the regional meet.
“Kyle’s a faster straightaway swimmer. In a meters pool, there’s a better chance for Kyle to come back and get that kid,” Jarvis said.
