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Highlands Today

Swimmers Push Toward Districts

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Lake Placid's Robert Greene cruised to an easy victory in the 50-yard freestyle event at Thursday's tri-meet in Lake Placid.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: October 18, 2008

LAKE PLACID - Green Dragon senior Tammi Beach touched the wall knowing she'd won the race comfortably, but when her dad kneeled down to tell her the time, she was instantly in a state of shock.

Beach had crossed that invisible barrier that hovers over every freestyle swimmer, winning the 100-yard freestyle event with a time of 59.69 to break the one-minute mark for the first time at Thursday's tri-meet between Avon Park, Sebring and Lake Placid.

With the district meet only two weeks away, the timing couldn't have been better for Beach.

"It felt like I had broken a record," the Green Dragon swimmer said. "I had a time just over a minute on Tuesday and I felt like today could be the day. I was a little more into it and more focused today, but I'm still shocked that I finally did it."

The LP senior came in first more than two seconds faster than Sebring's Julie Kirsch (1:02.90) with Avon Park's Brittany Murphy (1:07.41) rounding out the top three.

Beach still has a handful of goals left before she leaves the pool.

"I've still got my eyes set on breaking the school's 100- and 200-yard freestyle records," Beach said. "I'm inching closer and I hope that goal will inspire me to swim my best races during districts."

The excitement over Beach's finish was not limited to her teammates, as Sebring's Megan Wolfe cheered from the sidelines and was one of the first to congratulate her on her time.

"I was so excited for Tammi," Wolfe said. "We've been racing together for so many years and it's good to see her finally achieve one of her goals. I know she's had her heart set on breaking one-minute and she's come close so many times.

"People think that there's this big rivalry between the three schools (Avon Park, Sebring and Lake Placid), but in the case of swimming, we're just one big family."

Beach would also take first (2:15.18) in the 200 freestyle and in the 200 medley relay (2:04.47) and second in the freestyle relay (1:49.85).

Teammate Marbelly Creel dominated the 200 individual medley (2:45.39) with Lake Placid's Renee Michaud (2:52.41) placing second and Sebring's Samantha Miller (2:53.19) taking third.

Creel, also a member of the 200-medley and freestyle relay teams, took gold in the 100 butterfly (1:15.17), while Sebring's Michelle Bash (1:17.04) finished second and Michaud (1:17.11) placed third in the event.

Sebring's Paige Giller and Wolfe provided the evening's most exciting and closest finish in the 100 breaststroke.

With just mere feet before the finish, Giller and Wolfe were side by side but a last second lunge by Giller gave her the win over Wolfe (1:15.84 to 1:16.03).

Lake Placid's Rachel Cope (1:21.64) came in third.

Wolfe says that the Blue Streaks are right where they want to be heading into districts and believes they'll have more than their share of swimmers advancing to regionals.

"We've all been working really hard to push ourselves to that next level of competitiveness that you need when you head into districts," Wolfe said. "As far as myself, I'm comfortable where my times are, but I'm always going to push myself to shave that extra half second off.

"That extra time could mean the difference between going to state or the end of your season."

Sebring's Samantha Spiegel streaked through the pool for a dominating victory (6:29.05) in the 500 freestyle event, with Lake Placid's Alexa Murray (7:06.14) and Shannon Postrion (7:41.96) coming in second and third, respectively.

In girls diving, Lake Placid's Shannon Cummings (154.05) came on strong to displace Avon Park freshman Jamie Wirries (151.35) at the top spot with Sebring's Mekenzie Hargaden (149.05) placing third.

On the boys side, Avon Park's John Chittum (193.35) easily won the diving event, while taking the opportunity to work on some new dives, with Lake Placid's Mark Greenauer (155.25) finishing in second and teammate Edwin Velazquez (146.10) rounding out the top three.

But it was Avon Park sophomore Ryan Tracey who turned heads at the meet.

With a season-ending injury to Pablo Pantoja, Tracey was asked by Red Devil diving coach Shane Wirries to give the sport a try.

In only a week on the board and in his first meet, Tracey placed fourth (142.30) and pulled off a few difficult dives to give the AP team a reason to smile for the future.

"I wish I'd had Ryan a few weeks earlier," Wirries said. "He's only been diving a week and already he's up to par with most of the divers in the region. If I'd had two weeks with him, he would be competing for a top three position."

Because Tracey, a former Red Devil golf team member, doesn't have the mandatory number (four) of competitive meets under his belt, the AP sophomore will have to wait until next year for a crack at districts.

"I had my share of butterflies right before I did my first dive (back flip), but it was amazing to be out here competing," Tracey said. "I felt more confident as I did more dives and I'm definitely coming back to dive next year."

In the 200 freestyle event, Lake Placid's Dylan Weber-Callahan (2:18.22) cruised to victory with Avon Park's Nolan Jahna (2:38.40) and Sebring's Mathrew Thompson (2:38.93) placing second and third, respectively.

Weber-Callahan would claim victory once more in the 100 backstroke (1:10.26) and will be one of the Green Dragons to watch during districts.

Lake Placid sophomore Kevin Smit was all smiles right before he entered the pool for 100 butterfly, but was tested the entire way by Sebring's Brian Miller.

The LP swimmer used a late burst to take first (1:05.57) with Miller taking second (1:06.35) and Sebring's Michael Bickman (1:13.35) coming in third.

Smit would also take first (2:34.78) in the 200 individual medley and first (3:54.43) as a member of the 400 freestyle relay, along with teammates Edwin Velazquez, Robert Greene and Weber-Callahan.

Greene glided through the pool for an easy victory (24.45) in the 50-yard freestyle, but Sebring's Joshua Heflin (55.66) narrowly defeated Greene (55.80) in the 100-yard freestyle.

Avon Park's Tyler King (1:01.42) came in third.

Sebring's Mathew Vickers was victorious (5:43.20) in the 500-yard freestyle event, while Lake Placid sophomore Michael Trujillo (1:14.89) won the 100-yard breaststroke.

With Avon Park's regular season completed, first-year swim coach Michael Schofield used this final tri meet to evaluate his team against upper level competition and looks forward to a huge leap in improvement next season.

"We've got such a young team and it was good to see where we rank among the best swimmers in the region," Schofield said. "It gives us a blue print and shows the kids where they need to be if they're going to be mentioned as some of the best swimmers.

"This season was a huge learning experience for them and myself."

Avon Park and Lake Placid will compete in the Class 1A district finals on Oct. 29 with Sebring in the Class 2A districts on Oct. 28. Both meets begin at 9 a.m.

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com.

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