Swimmers gear up for post-season

Albemarle High School won both the boys and girls team titles while the Glenvar girls were sixth and the boys were 10^th.

Salem did not attend the meet this year. The meet was moved back a week from the individual date and it created a conflict for the team.

Last week Salem swam against five teams at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center, competing against Blacksburg, Radford, Christiansburg, Hidden Valley and Pulaski. The scores for the boys were as follows: SHS 47 – Blacksburg 47, SHS 68 – Radford 25, SHS 78 – Christiansburg 21, SHS 29 – HVHS 69, and SHS 80 – Pulaski 3.

Some highlights from this meet included Jake Bowery placing 2nd in both the 200 free in a 1:52.36 and the 500 Free  in 5:06.31. Jake Lawson placed 3rd in the 200 IM in 2:03.56 and 1st in the 100 free in 48.97. Nick Lawson placed 3rd in the 50 free in 24.31.

The Relay team of Jake Lawson, James Miles, Ben Shenal, and Logan DeWalt placed 3rd in the 200 Medley relay in 1:47.77. The team of Shenal, Miles, Nick Lawson, and Jake Bowery placed 2nd in the 200 free relay in 1:39.61. Finally, the team of Bowery, DeWalt, Nick Lawson, and Jake Lawson placed 2nd in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:32.74.

The scores for the girls are as follows: BHS 62 – SHS 39, SHS 72 – CHS 21, HVHS 53 – SHS 48, SHS 62 – RHS 32, and SHS 83 – PCHS 5.

Ellyn Anama placed 2nd in the 200 Free in a time of 2:07.68 and 1st in the 100 butterfly in 1:07.63 while Anna Clare Fleenor placed 1st in the 50 free in a time of 26.12, and 3rd in the 100 breast in a time of 1:13.10, which was a state qualifying time.

The relay of Anama, McKenna Habeeb, Fleenor, and Sandy James placed 2nd in the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 1:59.62, which is also a state qualifying time. The same relay placed 1st in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:55.37, which was also a state qualifying times.

“These are the first two relays that qualified for states in the four years I have been coaching Salem, so it was a very exciting meet for us,” said coach Jacob Van Roekel. “Overall, we are seeing a lot of good swimming right now. This is great because our season is winding down and we have conference coming up in one week. We will be excited to see what our swimmers can do there and how many can make it to Regionals.”

The Spartans are scheduled to swim against Hidden Valley at the Gator Center this Friday. Glenvar was at the Kirk Y in Roanoke on Wednesday to swim against James River.