In Friday night swim & dive action, the Yorktown Patriots split with the Fairfax Rebels from the Concorde District in a meet held Friday, January 23, at the Audrey Moore Rec Center. The Yorktown boys fell to Fairfax by a 222.5-84.5 score, while the Yorktown girls won a very close meet, 161-153.
The girls’ meet matched the schools that have produced the last three Virginia AAA state team champs and it was a fight to the very end. Of the 12 swim and dive events, Yorktown won only two. Molly Merkel touched the wall first in the 200 free and Lydia Carpenter won the 100 free. In the nine individual events, the Yorktown girls picked up these two first-place finishes and added eight seconds, eight thirds, and five fourth places to actually score more total points in eight of the nine events. It was the Yorktown depth and advantage in the individual events (148-112) that enabled them to overcome the large Fairfax edge in the relays (41-13) and secure the victory for the girls. Their dual meet record improved to 6-0.
On the boy’s side, Yorktown’s Jack Wilson claimed first place in the 100 breaststroke event, while Andrew Leach contributed two second place finishes (100 free, 100 back) and Brian Coonce finished second in the diving event. Third place finishes came from Will Tarkenton (200 IM and 500 free) and Greg Crosswell (100 breast). The dual meet record for the boys stands at 5-1 for the season.
The Patriots finish the dual meet portion of the season with their annual showdown with the Washington-Lee Generals. The meet will be held at W-L pool on 1/30/09 with diving starting at 6:30 pm.
<b>Synchronized Swimming</b>
NoVa Synchro, an Arlington-based synchronized swimming team, broke several records and nabbed a number of medals at their first meet of the season, the Potomac Valley Junior/Senior Association meet in Washington DC on Sunday, January 18.
The 13-15 Age Group swimmers swept first place in all routines, and scored new team records for their trio and team performances, breaking their noteworthy scores from the national championship last summer. Gold medal went to Arlington residents Sofie Ravesteijn, Julie Calvert, Morgan Shotwell, Marie O’Shaughnessy and Lauren Wengrovitz for their team routine. Calvert and Ravesteijn also captured a gold medal for their duet performance, then teamed up with Shotwell for a gold in trio. The 13-15 Age Group also were outstanding in the figures competition with the silver medal going to Ravesteijn and the bronze to Calvert.
The Senior duet team of Kelsey Momoi and Kathleen McLean, also of Arlington, won a bronze medal with a score that qualified them for the Senior Zone meet March 6-8 in Washington, DC. The top athletes from Senior Zones, which draws athletes from as far away as Florida and Texas, will move on to World Championship trials.