Brazil Rule was frustrated. Her goggles were still filling with water despite switching them after encountering a problem during her warmup for the 200-freestyle.
“I got someone else’s but that didn’t work either,” Rule said. “I was really upset because last year I got out-touched and I didn’t want that to happen again.”
It didn’t. Rule pulled the goggles off and bore down, rallying from way back on the final leg of the race to win the 200-free by .14 seconds, taking the title in the first individual girls event of the night of the 2015 Ben Hair Memorial Swim and Dive Meet. The victory set the tone for the Western girls as the Warriors put together a 535-495 victory over second place Albemarle High Tuesday night.
“She’s been training well but she comes into the 75-meter wall and her goggles are filling with water, so she rips them off and actually makes an open turn and then pulled it out from mid-pool in on the finish,” said Western coach Dan Bledsoe. “It was an amazing swim…amazing resiliency. At the flags it didn’t look like she had a shot.”
Rule also threw in a title in the 100-free with a scorching time of 54.06 time as well. She swam the anchor leg of the 200 medley relay title winning squad for the Warriors and the lead leg of the first place 200-free relay team, giving her four titles on the night. Her older sister, Texas-bound senior Remedy Rule also put together a monster night too, swimming on the 200-medley winning quartet, the 200-free relay squad as well as individual wins in the 100-fly and the 100-back. She won the 100-back in unusual fashion, swimming without a seed time in the opening heat, but went 58.45 in the race to snag the win while easily picking up a state qualifying time.
Western had one other big winners that bolstered the effort, with Charlotte Ramsey taking home the 200-IM championship and the 500-free title. Throw in third place finishes by the B team in the 200-medley and the 200-free relay squads and the Warriors had a bunch of points on the board.
From there, strong performances like Colleen Higgins’ runner-up in the 100-breast and third in the 200-IM and Morgan James’ second place in the 50-free and third in the 100-free helped power the Warriors to the win over Albemarle, the defending Group 5A state champions.
“I think (Western’s girls) get fired up against Albemarle,” Bledsoe said. “It’s a good rivalry, they swim with each other (during club swimming), so I think we were fired up to take them on.”
Albemarle put up a solid fight, working without the diving points that Western picked up largely on the strength of Charlotte Norris’ runner-up finish Monday night. The Patriots won the 400-free relay and took second in both the 200-medley and 200-free relays. Maggie Woods won the 50-free and finished as the runner-up in the 100-back. Madison Noga took second in the 100-fly and the 200-free relay. Katie Pajewski grabbed third places in the 500 and 200 free. Ashley Huang took fourth in the 200-IM and third in the 100-fly. Abby Wuensch took third in the 50-free and second in the 100-free.
Other standouts included Orange County’s third place finish in the 400-free relay and the Hornets’ Alex Neilan’s second place in the 200-IM.
The Monticello girls’ took third place on the night as a team, led by a fourth place finish in the 200-medley relay.
Covenant’s Mackenzie Lawson won the 100-breaststroke event for the Eagles. Fluvanna’s 200-free relay team grabbed fourth place in the 200-free. St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Elizabeth Neill won the girls diving competition Monday night.
