While most Academy students enjoyed a day off last Friday, February 22, Viking swimmers competed in the Division II state finals at Canton’s C.T. Branin Natatorium, leaving a lasting mark on the program. Led by Coach Craig Yacscoe, the girls team made it through to Friday’s finals in practically every event and took home a 7th place finish. Representing the boys squad, Andy Li’13, Alec Wuorinen’13, Mitchell Dreisbach’14, and Gavin Koerner’14 swam the 200 free relay in a season best of 1:32.25, placing 20th in the state.
Abby Brown’13, India Sherman’14, Anya Kone’15, and Abby Wilson’15 combined efforts to place 4th in the 200 medley relay, setting a new school record of 1:47.05 and 5th in the 200 freestyle relay, edging out rival Granville by .01 seconds with a time of 1:38.05. For Sherman, a veteran swimmer, this was one of the highlights of the meet and her swimming career. “The school record was shattered,” says Sherman, “and we surprised a lot of people. We threw our arms around each other. The rest is sort of a blur. I truly almost blacked out from being so excited. It was an amazing race, and all four of us really put our hearts into it. It was such a proud moment for all of us.”
The powerful foursome, however, did not stop there. Wilson continued to take 6th place in the 200 yard freestyle in 1:54.65 and 10th place in the 100yard backstroke with a 58.29. Kone swam her way to 12th place in the 50 free and 14th in the 100-free, with a season best time of 53.72. Brown settled in at 9th place in the 100 yard butterfly and took 13th place in the 100-breaststroke. Sherman, competing alongside Brown in the breaststroke, took 16th place with a time of 1:09.24.
Looking back on Friday’s performances, Sherman says, “Every race was specifically focused on, and we all did a good job of collecting ourselves to go on to our next event. It is grueling at times, but we tried to keep our heads in the right place, and in the grand scheme of things we had a great final result.”
Undoubtedly, the Aquavikes posted a notch on Academy’s swim program. Whether it was through records placed above the pool or memories shared, this year’s girls and boys team will not soon be forgotten.
Written by Margaret Sutton’14
