Hard work pays off for Albemarle

Albemarle’s swimmers may be coming out of winter training — a rigorous period where some athletes went through 24 practices in 14 days — but the Patriots looked awfully good Wednesday night at UVa’s Aquatic and Fitness Center.

The Patriots’ swim teams pulled off a sweep at the City/County Challenge, with the boys team running away with a victory while the girls squad held off a strong challenge from Western Albemarle to come away with the title.

“I was able to see a lot of the club swimmers practice over break and they were doing just phenomenal things over those two weeks,” said Albemarle coach Jake Shrum. “For us to come out and do as well as we did in sprint events is just amazing.”

Albemarle jumped out to a big lead in the first two events, with the 200-meter medley relay squad of Ian Joyce, Sean Cuday, Roger Fan and Andrew Starr kicking things off with a time 1:42.07, a time that would be good enough to qualify the Patriots’ relay team for the Group AAA state meet. Starr, Jack McHugh and C.J. Trachta, followed that just a few minutes later with a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 freestyle. Starr, who is headed to swim for Purdue in the fall, led the way with a blistering 1:45.43, more than two full seconds under the necessary Group AAA time.

“I think we went out strong and had some great races,” said Albemarle swimmer Michael Howe.

That’s an understatement — from there, the Patriots rolled.

“Without a doubt this is the fastest men’s team that we’ve ever assembled for Albemarle and we’ve got high hopes,” Starr said. “We’re all real excited about it.”

Starr also won the 100 backstroke, leading another 1-2-3 sweep along with Ian Joyce and Ryan McGhee. Sean Cuday played a big part in the win too, winning the 500 free and coming in second in the 100 breaststroke. Michael Bernardino won the 100 breast for the Patriots.

Albemarle got a big chunk of its points by sweeping all three relays, following the 200 medley win with a victory in the 200 free relay (Trachta, John Leonard, Matt Solomon and McHugh) and the 400-meter freestyle race (Starr, Fan, Joyce and Trachta). That relay dominance paved the way for the monster 167-point victory over second-place Western Albemarle.

Still, the Patriots’ swimmers were quick to point out things they can work on, viewing the Albemarle victory as a stepping stone to bigger goals.

“It was pretty good for this time of year, but I think we can do much better,” McHugh said.

Fan concurred with his teammate’s assessment, pointing out that bigger things should be on the way once the Patriots make adjustments and aren’t worn out by the winter training regimen.

“This is where we see where we’re at and what we can do,” Fan said. “Then when we taper [reduce training] we really show what we can do.”

The Albemarle girls put together a strong performance too, performing well in a host of individual events and the 200 medley relay (Hannah Cohoon, Katie Roddy, Nikki Ross and Holly Harper) to help top Western’s outing by a mere 27 points. The Warriors’ wins in the 200 free and 400 free relays made things awfully close.

Harper’s resiliency played a big part in the Albemarle victory. Harper recovered from a frustrating loss to Natalie Cronk in the girls 100 butterfly to pick up a victory in the 100 back.

“It’s a rivalry between me and Natalie — we’re friends — but it’s hard to lose to her, I don’t like it,” Harper said.

That’s part of why after racing to a 59.50 in the 100 back, Harper let out a loud yelp when she caught sight of her time after the race.

“I was more focused in the second race—I was more determined,” Harper said.

Ross and Kathleen Kines took first and second in the 200 individual medley for a critical win for the Patriots.

Charlottesville’s Daniel Foky’s individual performance highlighted the rest of the evening. The West Point-bound senior won the 50- and 100-meter free events, while also powering the Black Knights to a second place finish behind powerful Albemarle in the 400 free. His outing in the 50 free, more than a two-second margin of victory with a time of 21.27, was particularly impressive.

“I was a little surprised that I went that fast at this point in the season,” Foky said. “I had a year-round meet a few weeks ago and I was about three-tenths off what I did tonight. Hopefully, if I’m going that fast now, in the spring I’ll be able to go [under 21 seconds], which is my goal for the season.”

It was a good night for the Foky family as CHS’ Annie Foky, Daniel’s younger sister, picked up a win in the girls’ 50 free and a third place in the 100 free. Charlottesville’s Dania Jazouli ripped off a nice 5:34.61 in the grueling 500 free, besting her qualifying time by more than a second.

One of the night’s closest races came in the girls 100 breast, between Western’s Katie Lesemann and Monticello’s Sarah Harding. Lesemann barely out-touched Harding, coming in at 1:13.56 to Harding’s 1:13.63.