Fairmont Sr. back on swim thrones
FAIRMONT— The girl’s swimming team from Fairmont Senior High never went anywhere. The Polar Bears just kept on winning the Region 2 Meet year after year after year. However, in both the 2010 and 2011 boy’s seasons, the Polar Bears — who had nearly a dozen Regional and State championships — ceded the Region 2 championship to Musselman High.
Both Jefferson swim teams finished second behind Fairmont Senior at the Regional Meet.
Fairmont Senior was back this year . . . claiming the boy’s Regional again as well as routinely winning still another girl’s Regional championship.
The Fairmont Senior girls totaled 165 points to outdistance runner-up Jefferson by 49 points as the Cougars collected 116 points. Hedgesville was a distant third with Washington High coming in fourth in the team standings.
The Fairmont Senior boys accumulated 111.5 points to finish some 23 points in front of runner-up Jefferson (88.5) and 29 points ahead of third-place Washington (82). Musselman was fourth with 81 points. Ten teams competed in the boy’s division and nine teams were entered in the girl’s bracket.
Individually, Jefferson’s Keegan Simmons posted recording-setting times in winning the both the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle. Washington’s Shawn Gee was the winner in the 100 freestyle and the Patriots’ Derek Carson took a first in the 500 freestyle.
In the girl’s division, Jefferson’s Luisa Holland was a double winner, claiming both the 200 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.
The Jefferson girls won the 200 freestyle relay with Samantha Stambaugh, Kaley Hoffman, Dodson, and Holland comprising the Lady Cougar four-person unit.
The Washington boys posted a team win in the 400 freestyle relay with Carson, Gee, Ian MacLeod, and Tim Goben doing the honors.
The top four finishers in each individual event automatically qualified for this week’s state meet at the West Virginia University Natatrorium in Morgantown. Eight more qualifiers from the four combined regions will make for 24 swimmers in each individual event. Points will be awarded for the first 12 places. The first three teams in each relay will also qualify for the state meet with the next four fastest times from the four combined regionals also sending relay teams to Morgantown in each of the three relay events.
Jefferson’s girls had Holland, Hoffman, Dodson, Ashleigh Orr, and Shannon Wiercioch qualify for the state meet in individual races. The Lady Cougars qualified teams in all three relays.
Washington’s Emma Bryan qualified for the state meet in two races.
The Jefferson boys will be represented by Simmons, Kyle Polczynski, Bryan Wiercioch, and Bailey Pitcher in individual races and Devin Forman in relays only.
Washington’s indivdual-race entries will be Carson and Gee, who will be joined in one relay by Alvaro Chavez as well as Goben and MacLeod on the Regional-winning 400 freestyle relay unit.
