After brushing aside a constant downpour followed by brutal heat, the best swimmers at High Point Pool in Falls Church held their own in a meet featuring the fastest from across the Northern Virginia region, posting numerous personal-best times in the All-Star Individual Meet at Little Rocky Run last Saturday.
A Division 4 club, the 10 High Point Dolphins entered in the meet took on swimmers from much stronger divisions, but still managed to brave the elements and surpass previous record times for their pool.
15-18 competitor Hunter Perrot led the Dolphins on the afternoon, posting an eighth-place finish in the 50-meter freestyle, a race in which the top 10 competitors all finished within one second of each other. Perrot later went on to place 13th in the 50-meter breaststroke.
Building for the future, numerous High Point youngsters swam their best times of the season. 9-10 swimmer Fiona Muir had her best backstroke race of the season, moving from a ninth-place seed to a sixth-place finish, dropping .67 seconds from her time in the process. Muir also placed ninth in the 50-meter freestyle for her age group. Muir’s brother, Iain, finished 17th in the eight and under 25-meter freestyle as well.
In addition, Claire Fleury dropped almost half a second in her 25m breastroke race, as the eight-and-under Dolphin finished 14th in the event. Ben Sharrer, swimming in the same age group as Fleury, dropped half a second in his 25m butterfly race.
Laura Salt took seventh place in the 11-12 50-meter breaststroke, while Kelley Frank placed eighth in the 15-18 50-meter freestyle and ninth in the 50-meter butterfly. On the guys side, Lachlan Flatin took seventh in the eight-and-under 25-meter breaststroke, Peter House placed 11th in the 11-12 50-meter breaststroke, and Kyle Gittins took 15th in the 100-meter 9-10 Individual Medley.
“I think the meet went very well [for us], especially considering the weather,” said Katie Rock, coach of High Point. “The swimmers really made the best of a long day and we saw some great races.”
The individual all-star meet rounds out the season for High Point Pool, in which the Dolphins moved up to their current conference from Division 5, entering a heightened field of competition. However, High Point managed to finish 2-3 on the season, losing two of their dual meets by just one relay. The close outcomes lead Rock to believe that the 2009 season should be even better for the young swimmers.
“Next year I think our team will be as strong if not stronger and should be able to compete well once again,” commented the coach, an alumna of High Point. “I am especially looking forward to seeing our younger swimmers grow as they are a very strong age group right now.”
Rock also pointed to the fact that she had a handful of 11-12-aged Dolphins step up to fill the void in the 13-14 age group, racing against older and more experienced swimmers. The practice gained through such stiff competition, Rock said, should vault High Point to an even better finish next year.
