Swimmers do well
Southern Maryland shines at Prince-Mont All-Stars meet
LAUREL — On a day when overnight rains could not wreak havoc with the schedule and an early afternoon shower arrived as the meet was winding to a close, several swimmers from Southern Maryland pools were able to shine at Saturday’s Prince-Mont All-Star meet at West Arundel Swim Club.
Among the six Southern Maryland pools which sent at least a pair of swimmers to the annual event, Hawthorne Country Club arrived with the highest expectations. The Gators, who went undefeated through the Division B dual meets and won the overall team title at the division championships, had their fair of success Saturday.
But the lone triple winner was Clayton Jameson from the Smallwood Village Aquatic Club, who captured the 11- to 12-year-old boys 50-yard freestyle (26.22 seconds), 50 backstroke (30.60) and 100 individual medley (1 minute 5.13 seconds). He edged Roger Carter Seals swimmer Roger Zhu in all three events, with Jameson winning that trio by a combined sum of less than one full second.
“It meant a lot to me to win all three,” said Jameson, a rising eighth-grader at John Hanson Middle School in Waldorf. “Prior to this year, I had never won anything at All-Stars. My best was third. I had a good week of practice and got plenty of help from my ASTC coach, Dominique Banks. I was able to drop a full second this week, so that gave me confidence coming into today.”
Kings Landing swimmer Alexia Zaidi, a rising seventh-grader at Northern Middle School in Owings, won two events. Zaidi captured the 11-12 girls 50 breaststroke (35.18) and 50
back (30.84) then was second to Kingfish Swim Club’s Nisa Ellis in the 100 IM (1:06.05). It was a good end to the PrinceMont season, but not the end of the summer for Zaidi.
“I was happy that I won two events,” said Zaidi, who plans to swim for Northern High School in 2019. “I still have trouble in the freestyle, but my breaststroke is pretty good. I thought I was going to win a third event, but [Ellis] got me in the freestyle. I still have the state meet next weekend at St. Mary’s College. I will be in two relays and seven individual events. I’m really looking forward to the 200 IM.”
Kings Landing’s Aspen Gallaudet won the 9-10 25 breast (19.12), then was was sixth in the 9-10 girls 25 butterfly (15.93) and fifth in the 50 free (31.36), while Emma Biehn was fourth in the 11-12 girls 50 fly (31.17). Smallwood’s Justin Truitt finished fourth in the 13-14 boys 50 back (29.74) and the Marlins’ Cora Jameson took fifth in the 13-14 girls 50 back (32.95).
Hawthorne’s Conor Vienneau, Kristopher Schueller, Mikel Reyes and Liam Vienneau opened the meet by taking second in the 18-and-Under boys 200 medley relay (1:45.31). Later, the Hawthorne 8-U mixed 100 free relay of Molly Reisinger, Jackson Donnick, Rachel Peterson and Landon Abelende took first (1:13.86) and the 9-18 boys 200 free relay group of Gavin Abelende, Cole Rapczynski, Samuel Dugan and David Dugan placed fifth (1:48.56).
A pair of youthful Hawthorne swimmers started the meet quickly in individual events. Clinton Cupples took second in the 9-10 boys 25 fly (15.88), then Jadyn Woolsey, who did not know how to swim one year ago, captured the 9-10 girls 25 fly (15.53). Rapczynski was fourth in the 11-12 boys 50 fly
(30.53) and came back later to finish in a dead-heat for first with West Arundel’s Michael Venit in the 50 breast (34.71) before finishing third behind Jameson and Zhu in the 50 free (26.98).
Esther Dugan captured the 13-14 girls 50 free (26.04), then was second to Takoma Park’s Jasmine Barry in the 50 breast (31.71) and 100 IM (1:01.69). Landon Abelende won the 8-U boys 25 free (15.77) and Bryce Johnson was second in the 8-U boys 25 breast (23.07) and Cupples was second in the 9-10 boys 25 breast (18.85).
In his first year in the 15-18 boys bracket, Conor Vienneau had been unbeaten through the dual meets and divisionals and
even the Charles County Swim Championships. But Saturday against numerous seasoned veterans of dual meets and AllStars events of years past, including one with a year of college swimming underneath him, Vienneau settled for minor spoils in three good efforts.
Vienneau finished fourth in the 100 free (50.42), fifth in the 50 back (27.14) in an event where the top two finishers, Ryan Mathis (24.78) and Jimmy Hayburn (25.10) both came in under the previous league record, then finished fourth in the 100 IM (57.88) won by West Arundel’s Jay Venit, a rising sophomore at
Loyola University in Baltimore.
“I was very, very proud of our kids,” said Hawthorne head coach Mary Jane Cupples, also the swim coach at La Plata High School. “We had a lot of kids finish first or second and our 8-Under mixed relay took first. A lot of the kids took best times. Our boys 18-Under medley relay was four 15-year-olds and Liam Vienneau, who is 18, taking on a lot of 17- and 18-yearolds from other teams and we finished second. My kids definitely swam like they belong in Division A next summer.”
Indian Head’s 18-U boys 200 medley relay quartet of RG Bolton, Luke Machnicki, Brett Culhane and Bryan Mentzer combined for 17th (2:06.69). Culhane finished 12th in the 15-18 boys 50 fly (26.64) and 14th in the 15-18 boys 50 breast (32.75), Machinicki was 17th in the 11-12 boys 50 breast (43.06) and 15th in the 12-U 100 IM (1:22.36). Abigail Vanasse was 18th in the 11-12 girls 100 IM (1:21.63) and Kyla Smith was 18th in the 1112 girls 50 back (39.37).
Bannister’s Jonathan Parham finished ninth in the 9-10 boys 25 fly (17.48) and Nicholas Brown placed 14th in the 13-14 boys 50 breast (36.21).