Depth gets it done in a swim meet and Albemarle’s boys and Western Albemarle’s girls proved that again Wednesday night with a pair of wins in the revamped and expanded Ben Hair Memorial Swim Meet in a repeat of 2009’s final result at the City/County Challenge.
The 2010 Ben Hair meet took City/County’s date and format and expanded it, adding Fluvanna County, Orange County, William Monroe and Louisa County to the mix of Albemarle County publics and privates. The result was an early season showcase of most of the area’s best swimmers, with private school, Group AAA and Group AA talent racing side-by-side and while Albemarle’s boys and Western’s girls won the team titles, it was many of the individual matchups that made it an exciting event.
The boys races featured all-out battles between Albemarle’s Matt Lockman, Monticello’s Ryan Mitchell and Orange’s top two swimmers Alex Montes de Oca and Justin Barden. Each member of that quartet won at least one individual race and often had to fight off each other to grab the win. Mitchell edged out Barden in the 200-yard freestyle before Lockman edged Mitchell in the 100-yard freestyle and Barden bounced back with a win in the 100-backstroke.
“(Barden) just wasn’t feeling the 200-freestyle like he wanted to but he just exploded on that backstroke,” said Orange coach Jacob Roth. “If you watched his turns they were just beautiful, he was beating people on every wall. It’s great to see Ryan (Mitchell) swim too, (Barden and Mitchell) had a good 100-freestyle last year at districts where Justin just got Ryan, it’s good that they have each other, they all really push each other.”
Montes de Oca and Lockman both won two titles each, with Lockman winning the 50-free and Montes de Oca grabbing the 200-individual medley and the 100-butterfly.
Matt Lockman and Chase Robbins were the only individual champions for Albemarle with Robbins winning the 500-free by a couple of seconds over STAB’s Tyler Gimple, but the Patriots racked up points with finishes like the 100-yard breastroke where Covenant’s Eli Hostege won by more than three seconds but Tim Webb, Andrew Williamson and Robbie Robinson went 2-3-4 for Albemarle and Sean Telford came in sixth to score more points.
“Through the years, we’ve been really strong especially at this meet,” said Albemarle coach Jake Shrum. “Most times everyone who’s swimming is finishing in the top 10. They did a great job.”
The Patriots also won 200-free and 200-medley relays, with Lockman, Robbins and Stephen Topping on both units. Collin Hensien and Tim Webb rounded out the teams on the 200-free and 200-medley respectively. Jacob Lescault had a pair of third places as well in the 200-free and 500-free to help spark Albemarle’s run to the title.
“This has always been our big kind of stepping stone specifically for the guys,” Shrum said. “They always do a great job here and use it to springboard through the last two weeks of the dual meet season and on into the championship season.”
In the boys teams final standings, Albemarle outpaced Orange, who finished second, largely with that depth as the Hornets couldn’t match the slew of seconds and thirds and fourths the Patriots piled up. The Hornets took a significant break over the holidays, and coming in cold to the meet seemed to have an impact.
Depth was also key on the Western girls side, where three swimmers grabbed individual titles and helped the Warriors hold off second place Albemarle. Emma McKinley’s win in the 500-free was perhaps the most impressive as she ripped off a new school record despite having to race in the first heat because of a lack of seeding time. With nobody pacing her during the race, Western co-head coach Diana Bowen and McKinley had to get creative.
“Before she swam the race, she and I went and did some pace laps and got her on her pace because for a 500 that’s so important,” Bowen said. “Once she started the race there was communication between me and her counter to keep her on that pace and she nailed it.”
McKinley managed to stay on pace and win the event by nearly a full 13 seconds with a time of 5:17.18.
The other two individual champions for Western, Natalie Cronk and Seana Acker put together big-time swims. Cronk’s performance stood out as she won the 200-freestyle and then edged Charlottesville’s Brodde Lamb in one of the night’s tightest races by sixth one-hundredths of a second in the 100-butterfly.
“(Cronk’s race in the 100-fly) really stood out in my mind as someone who didn’t come in with the upper hand in that race and may not usually win that race, but she overcame some challenges and I was really impressed with that,” said Western co-head coach Diana Bowen.
Acker grabbed the 100-breaststroke with a comfortable win. She also factored into two of Western’s three relay wins, a sweep of the meet’s relay events. Cronk, McKinley and Katie Lesemann all played a major role in the relays too with Lesemann swimming legs on all three winners.
Albemarle’s Holly Harper was a double champion for the Patriots with wins in the 100-free and 100-backstroke, while Chelsea Tomko won the 50-free by edging district rival Alex Cave of William Monroe. Before Lamb battled Cronk down the stretch in the 100-fly, she won the 200-IM by a comfortable margin as the Charlottesville swimmer scored a lot of points along with teammates Charlotte Keeley and Dania Jazouli for the third place Black Knights.
The results from the diving portion of the event will be posted as soon as they are available.
Individual race winners
Girls
200-yard medley relay
Western Albemarle
200-yard freestyle
Natalie Cronk, Western Albemarle
200-yard IM
Brodde Lamb, Charlottesville
50-yard freestyle
Chelsea Tomko, Fluvanna County
100-yard butterfly
Natalie Cronk, Western Albemarle
100-yard freestyle
Holly Harper, Albemarle
500-yard freestyle
Emma McKinley, Western Albemarle
200-yard freestyle relay
Western Albemarle
100-yard backstroke
Holly Harper, Albemarle
100-yard breaststroke
Seana Acker, Western Albemarle
400-yard freestyle relay
Western Albemarle
Boys
200-yard medley relay
Albemarle
200-yard freestyle
Ryan Mitchell, Monticello
200-yard IM
Alex Montes de Oca, Orange County
50-yard freestyle
Matt Lockman, Albemarle
100-yard butterfly
Alex Montes de Oca, Orange County
100-yard freestyle
Matt Lockman, Albemarle
500-yard freestyle
Chase Robbins, Albemarle
200-yard freestyle relay
Albemarle
100-yard backstroke
Justin Barden, Orange County
100-yard breaststroke
Eli Hostege, Covenant
400-yard freestyle relay
Western Albemarle
Women Team Final Rankings
1. Western Albemarle, 328
2. Albemarle, 270
3. Charlottesville, 260
4. Fluvanna County, 140
5. St. Anne’s-Belfield, 79.5
6. Orange County, 71.5
7. Monticello, 71
8. William Monroe, 48
9. Louisa County, 14
Men Team Final Rankings
1. Albemarle, 395
2. Orange County, 200
3. Charlottesville, 184
4. Western Albemarle, 132
5. Covenant, 115
6. Monticello, 90
7. Fluvanna County, 75
8. St. Anne’s-Belfield, 53
9. William Monroe, 46
10. Louisa County, 6
