Western senior Alex Rayle has been in contention for swimmer of the year in the Jefferson District since he was a freshman standout for the Warriors’ boys swim and dive squad but he’s just missed out on it.
Until Saturday.
“I’ve been competing for that for a long time, it’s nice to get it,” Rayle said.
Rayle won the 200-freestyle, 100-backstroke and swam legs on the title-winning 400-freestyle relay and a second place 200-medley leg. The senior tied his teammate Danny O’Dea and Monticello’s Miles Rodi for the meet’s high-point award and won a vote for swimmer of the year.
The award was one of many highlights for the Western Albemarle program on the day as the Warriors’ boys and girls team swept the district championships and also picked up the girls swimmer of the year award as Remedy Rule earned the nod.
“It didn’t matter where we put (Rayle) him, he would go and swim his best and probably win,” said Western Albemarle co-head coach Dan Bledsoe. “And he wouldn’t complain, it’d be about what’s best for the team.”
The Warriors won the girls title with 304 points while Charlottesville’s squad came in second with 193 and Fluvanna clocked in at third on 85 points. On the boys side, Western had a tougher fight, piling up 268 points to Monticello’s 208-point total. Charlottesville took third on the boys side with 112 points.
It was a critical first step for the Western girls team that’s in the process of trying to defend its second straight Group AA title. But by the look of it, there’s no pressure on the Warriors.
“We are usually the last ones out of every meet because I can’t get them on the bus,” Bledsoe said. “They just want to hang out with each other the entire time, they really are loose. That starts with our leadership, with Alex and Morgan McKee is our other team captain for the boys and the girls with Elsa Strickland and Anna Corley keep things loose. They realize the best way to deal with things is to have fun with it.”
The only swimmer who stopped a Western sweep of the entire meet was Charlottesville’s brilliant freestyle swimmer Storrs Lamb, who won the 50 and 100 free. The Warriors won every other event starting with all three relays. Madison Tegen, won the 200-freestlye, Brazil Rule won the 200-IM and Remedy Rule took the 100-fly and 400-freestyle titles. Becca Moriconi and Lexi Campbell rounded out the individual champions for the Warriors winning the 100-backstroke and 100-breaststroke respectively.
On the boys side, the Warriors won not just with O’Dea and Rayle dominating with two individual titles each, but with depth. While Rayle won the 200-fee, Meade Cogan took third. While Monticello’s Miles Rodi won the 200-IM, Max Tempkin and Morgan McKee took second and third for the Warriors. O’Dea snagged the 50-free title but Spencer Elliott and Marcus Van Clief also picked up points in the top eight. The best example though might have been the four placings in the 100-fly behind Monticello champ Keenan Sochar. Tempkin, Jake Paulson and Zachary Mandell went second,third and fourth while Andy Cohen came up with seventh place points.
But Monticello didn’t go quietly, with Sochar (100-butterfly), Ryan Mitchell (100-breaststroke) and Miles Rodi (400-free and 200-IM) winning individual championships. The Mustangs opened the meet with a 200-medley relay win and also snagged a 200-freestyle relay title.
Fluvanna swept the top spots in the Jefferson District dive championships with Kelsey Schlein winning on the girls side and Bryce Campenelli taking home the boys title.
The top five in each event and swimmers with Group AA meet cuts will advance to the Region II meet, hosted next week back at Fork Union.
