Western Albemarle’s boys and girls swim teams put together huge performances Tuesday as the girls squad won the Region 3A West title while the bots took home second place behind a loaded Hidden Valley team in Christiansburg.
Monticello’s team also had a big day, advancing all six relay teams to the state meet.
State qualifiers will now compete in next week’s Group 3A meet, also in Christiansburg.
Region 3A West Boys
Western boys squad pulled off a second place without a single individual champion, leaning heavily on a strong relay performance and depth in key events to pull off the runner-up finish. The 200-free relay team led the way with a big win as Aaron James, Marcus Van Clief, A.J. Donovan and Kyle Benson put together a the title-winning swim. Benson, Van Clief, James and Jake Paulson also combined for a runner-up finish in the 400-free relay. Throw in a fourth place in the 200-medley and the Warriors picked up the bulk of their points in the relays.
The 100-fly also gave the Warriors a huge boost with Ian O’Donnell, Paulson and Donovan taking second, third and fourth respectively for a big injection of points. Van Clief and Donovan went second and third in the 50-free too, while another trio, this time Matt Mandell, O’Donnell and Jack Vaughn took seventh, eighth and ninth in the 200-IM. Mandell also went fifth in the 100-breast while Vaughn took sixth and James grabbed a fifth in the 100-back while Paulson took 10th. Benson and Van Clief went six-seven in the 100-free and Benson added a seventh place finish in the 200-free with Ryan Boyce checking in at 10th.
Wilson Brown took fourth in the dive as well to help spark Western.
The Monticello boys, who finished sixth as a team, took fifth in the 200-medley relay, fifth in the 200-free and fourth in the 400-free for a strong trio of state qualifying swims. Sam Crowell, Teddy Leeds Armstrong, Peter Tegethoff and Brian Young combined on the fourth place 400-free swim while Danny Higginbotham, Tegethoff, Leeds Armstrong and Young worked together on the 200-free. Crowell, Zach Daniel, Leeds Armstrong and Tegethoff teamed up in the 200-medley.
In the individual races, Young finished fifth in the 50-free, Tegethoff took seventh in the 100-fly and Crowell placed sixth in he 100-back.
Region 3A West Girls
The Western girls’ title winning performance was a bit different from the boys’ outing as the Warriors picked up a pair of individual titles from Remedy Rule in the 100-back and 200-IM to help set the tone and won the 200-free relay with a team of Amie Benson, Remedy Rule, Caroline Riordan and Brazil Rule as well.
But from there it was definitely depth that took over for Western as they cruised to a 22-point victory over second place Cave Spring.
Brazil Rule posted a pair of third-place finishes in the 200-free and 100-fly, with Brynn Acker tacking on a fifth place finish in the butterfly. Acker pulled a similar feat in the 200-IM, taking fifth behind Remedy Rule while teammate Colleen Higgings took sixth in that event.
McKenna Riley and Savannah Scarborough went ninth and 11th respectively in the 200-free while Caroline Riordan grabbed fifth in the 50-free in front of Julia Elder who took seventh. Elder and Morgan James then took fifth and sixth in the 100-free and Charlotte Rumsey took fifth in the 500-free.
Higgins posted her best individual swim of the day late in the meet with a second place finish in the 100-breast while Scarborough took third and Elissa Simpson finished ninth.
Charlotte Norris took third in diving, while Kelsey Tarleton took sixth and Devon Barrett finished ninth.
The 200-medley and 400-free relay’s second place finishes were a big part of the win too.
The Monticello girls finished eighth as a team, with the squad’s relays leading the way. Julie Scoles, Kendall Walin, Ava Burnsed and Kathryn Deane combined for a fifth place finish in the 200-free relay and the Mustangs added a seventh in the 400-free relay and an eighth in the 200-medley.
Individually, Burnsed had the highest finish with a seventh in the 100-fre while Julie Scholes took ninth in the 200-IM. Deane finished 10th in the 50-free while Amanda Mincer took 10th in the 100-fly.
