It’s important when you’re about to be in a dogfight for a championship for someone to step up and establish how the day is going to go.
Western Albemarle’s Aaron James did just that when he came back in the boys 200 Medley relay on the anchor leg and sparked the Warriors to a team record and a victory to open the day. He went on to win two events, the 50 and 100-freestyle races, and help Western seal up a Region 3A West title as they held off Hidden Valley.
“He just kind of set the tone for the day,” said Western coach Dan Bledsoe.
Monticello High’s relay team finished third in that opening event behind Western and Hidden Valley and that’s how the day finished with Brian Young and Bracken Eddy helping power the Mustangs to a third place regional finish.
The Warriors wrapped up the title largely because the entire team swam best times, outperforming their seed spots by a significant margin in many cases. Like Zach Bowen in the 200-freestyle, who peeled more than three seconds off his time and took ninth. Or Trevor Phelps in the same event who sliced more than four seconds off his own seed time to finish seventh.
“It’s just fun to watch. They just keep getting better,” Bledsoe said.
The Warriors also finished in packs, like in the 200-IM that Eddy won with a strong performance for Monticello (he also finished third in the 100-back). Behind him was a Spotswood swimmer in second, but Western took had four of the next six finishers, piling up major points from third place Matt Mandell, sixth place Ian O’Donnell, seventh place Jack Vaughn and 10th place Evan Sposato. More interestingly is that the Warriors didn’t rely on a pack of year round swimmers to pull that off as Vaughn is the lone year-round swimmer in that group.
O’Donnell cut seven seconds off his time, giving Western a huge point boost as he went from being seeded 13th to finishing sixth. It was clear that the Western boys who have occasionally stepped out of but often reside in the girls squad’s shadow because of that team’s five straight state titles, were on a bit of a mission.
“The boys have said some things like they’re sick of the girls getting all the recognition, not in a bad way, but just in a “Let’s just go get it, let’s earn it ourselves’,” Bledsoe said.
With James winning the 50 free, Western also flashed some depth there as Jason Helilman took fourth just behind Monticello’s Young who finished third and Johnny Riordan took eighth.
Western’s Wilson Brown won the diving competition while A.J. Donovan too second in the 100-fly. O’Donnell and Heilman came in fifth and sixth in the fly.
James’ victory in the 100-free also came with some help in the event as August Lamb finished as the runner-up and Jake Paulson took fourth while Monticello’s Brian Young finished third.
Monticello’s Teddy Leeds-Armstrong finished ninth in the 100-free.
Phelps finished fifth in the 500-free while Sposato and Ryan Boyce took eighth and ninth. Monticello’s Owen Linville finished 11th for the Mustangs in the 500.
The Warriors also won the 200-free relay with Lamb, Donovan, James and Heilman. Monticello finished sixth, Fluvanna took eighth.
Paulson took fourth in the 100-back behind Eddy’s third place clocking while Monticello’s Sam Crowell finished sixth. Fluvanna’s Michael DiFazio finished seventh in the 100-back and eighth in the 100-fly. Monticello’s Peter Tegethoff took 10th in the 100-fly.
In the 100-breast, Matt Mandell and Vaughn took second and third behind Hidden Valley’s Jason Hamilton. The Warriors’ 400-free relay team took second behind Hidden Valley, with Heilman, Vaughn, Paulson and Lamb combining for the strong finish. Monticello’s 400-free squad took fourth while the Mustangs took sixth in the 200-free relay.
The Fluvanna boys took eighth in the 200-free relay.
Qualifying swimmers now advance to the Group 3A Championships next week in Richmond.
Western girls take second
Western Albemarle’s girls swimming and diving team was locked in a three-way battle for the Region 3A West championship with Cave Spring and Blacksburg Thursday night in Christiansburg and the Warriors finished second behind Cave Spring with Blacksburg finishing third.
Brazil Rule’s victory in the 50-free led the charge while the Warriors’ 200-free relay team of Rule, Morgan James, Charlotte Rumsey and Caroline Riordan also picked up an event title.
Behind Rule in the 50-free came Claudia James in sixth and Morgan Broadus in 11th.
Morgan James also took second in the 100-free where Claudia James grabbed fifth, Savannah Scarbrough seventh and Riordan eighth.
The Warriors’ 400 free relay finished as the runner-up while the 300-medley squad started the day off with a third place finish.
Meredith Martin took fifth in the 200-free while McKenna Riley grabbed eighth in that event. Rumsey finished fourth in the 200-IM with Colleen Higgins coming in 10th.
In the dive, Devon Barrett, Audrey Russell and Mia Donalson went 6-7-8 for the Warriors.
Claire O’Connell took eighth in the 100-fly while Jesse Dugan was ninth, Teryn Ratcliffe 12th and Anjali Nitzche 13th.
Higgins finished 11th in the 500 free while Martin checked in at 12th. Riley was ninth in the 100-back while Dugan too 13th. Rumsey finished sixth in the 100-breast, Savannah Scarbrough was eighth, Elissa Simpson finished 10th and Catherine Adams rounded out the Western contingent in 12th.
Monticello’s girls 200 medley squad took seventh while Julie Scholes too 12th in the 200 IM. Amanda Mincer finished 10th in the 100-fly and Ava Burnsed took ninth for the Mustangs in the 100-free. The girls 200-free relay finished fifth while the 400-free relay squad too ninth.
Fluvanna had a solid outing highlighted by Caylyn McNaul taking fourth in the 100-breast. The Fluvanna girls’ 200-medley team finished sixth. Stephanie Nardone took sixth in the 200-IM and seventh in the 100-back while Lydia Reynard finished fifth in the dive. Anna Hurdle and Emily Baker finished ninth and 10th in the dive respectively. The Fluvanna girls took eighth in the 200-free relay
