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Highlands Today

Dragon duo finish season at state meet

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: November 16, 2009

ORLANDO - Competing against the best swimmers and divers in the Class 1A state meet was a learning experience for Lake Placid's Edwin Velazquez and Dylan Weber-Callahan on Saturday at the Central Florida YMCA Aquatic Center in Orlando.

Velazquez, who was competing despite a sprained ankle, scored 232.65 points in eight dives from the 1-meter platform to finish 19th in the 24-person field.

"Edwin twisted on his last dive when he wasn't supposed to and that threw him out of the mix," said Lake Placid coach Thomas Creel. "He made the first cut, but looking back, even if he would have hit that dive, he wouldn't have moved on to the final round of dives.

"I don't think the ankle bothered him that much today, but missing practice during the week affected his rhythm."

This was the first trip to state for Velazquez, who is a junior with a lot of potential.

"It was a great experience for Edwin," Creel said. "He's decided to focus on his diving and he met some people at the state meet that are from around here and can help him with his training to help him take the next step to becoming an elite diver."

Noah Garcia, of Pompano Beach, finished first in the diving competition with a score of 610.45 points in 11 dives.

"It was a great atmosphere and the competition was excellent," the Green Dragons coach said. "This was for only the best divers in the state and Edwin can be proud because he's one of the best."

Weber-Callahan competed in the 50-yard freestyle event and the Green Dragons junior had a time of 22.87, which would have placed him 19th, but he was disqualified for a false start.

"Dylan was on the starting block and he had a muscle twitch and the judges disqualified him," said Creel. "We're still trying to figure it out because technically they can disqualify you for that but usually don't. We didn't even know he'd been disqualified until we went to look at the results, but we have it on video and the twitch didn't give him any kind of advantage."

Tommy Gutman, of state powerhouse Jacksonville Bolles, finished first with a time of 20.34.

Despite the disappointing end to the swim season, Weber-Callahan gained valuable experience that he can utilize to help him improve in his senior year.

"Dylan is not too happy," said Creel. "He's kicking himself, but he'll get over it and just the experience of competing at the state meet is going to help make him a better swimmer.

"Dylan is one of the top 24 swimmers in the state in a classification that has 140 schools and it's quite an accomplishment that he and Edwin made it to the state finals."

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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