Western teams win in Jefferson meet
Published: February 8, 2009
FORK UNION — The Western Albemarle girls and boys swimming teams swept the competition at the Jefferson District championships on Saturday.
The Warriors got an outstanding performance across the board, but were undoubtedly led by Jim Shelley, who not only pulled in a pair of gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley, but also anchored his team in their first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.
“It was a good day in the pool,” Shelley said. “We’re starting to taper for the bigger meets like regions and states.”
Orange County finished second behind an outstanding day from Nick Montes de Oca.
The Hornets swimmer had walked away with three gold medals in three very different events. Montes de Oca swam away with the 400 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.
“In the long distance races, you have to decide when you want to put your kick into it,” Montes de Oca said. “It takes a lot more planning.”
He also helped his team squeak out a win the 200 free relay and was awarded the JD boys swimmer of the year.
A five-headed monster of Mattie Webb, Emma McKinley, Seana Acker, Kathleen Nicholson and Natalie Cronk helped the Warriors to finish ahead of Fluvanna County.
Cronk helped the Warriors win the 400 freestyle relay to go along with her first-place finishes in the 100 backstroke and the 100 breast despite feeling ill.
“I didn’t feel that great but I just decided to give it my best,” said Cronk. “We just really wanted to win. We stayed positive.”
McKinley won the 200 and 400 free and was named the JD girls swimmer of the year.
The Flucos were led by Chelsea Tomko. Tomko finished in first twice during the day. The first win came in the 50 free, the second in the 100 fly.
“Our team’s had a really good season, so I expected us to do well,” Tomko said. “We have really good team support with five or six people behind the lanes for every race. It’s a lot easier to race when you have a lot of people cheering for you.”
The Charlottesville boys and Monticello girls each placed third.
Daniel Foky won the 100 free for the Black Knights.
Jan Walker placed third for the Mustangs in the 200 IM.
The diving portion of the championship was held at Smith pool on Friday. Tim and Robert Edwards took first and second for Orange in the boys 1-meter dive.
Fluvanna’s Sarah Bomberger finished first in the same event for the girls.
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Reader Reactions
The Jefferson District diving championship was held at Crow Pool. 3rd place for the boys was Devon Stribling from Fluvanna. 2nd place for the girls was Alex Poletti from Western. 3rd place for the girls was Heather Stephenson from William Monroe.
Tim Edwards from Orange set a district dive record.
AAA diving was held the same evening with 4 ladies from Albemarle placing. Casey Kyriacopoulos, Connor Carson, Jen Mileur, and Stephanie Oswald. Casey and Jen will be moving on to the State championship.
Everyone, on all teams in the Jefferson District, swam incredibly well yesterday.
I wanted to congratulate Katie Lesemann who had two 2nd place finishes and swam two first place relays for Western Albemarle on the girl’s side.
On the boy’s side Western Albemarle’s win really came from a true team performance when all 4 boys in many events scoring points.
This district has continued to become more competitive over the years. It was very exciting to watch both the swim and dive portions.
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