SALEM – For the first time in 41 years, the Stonegate Swim Club stands atop the Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association at season’s end.

The Gators won the RVAA’s City-County championship over two days last weekend at the Salem YMCA. After Friday and Saturday rounds Stonegate finished ahead of second place Roanoke Country Club in both the meet and season scores. Hunting Hills took third and Read Mountain was fourth.

Stonegate's Jimmy Forrester competes in the butterfly in last week's City-County meet at the Salem YMCA. By Jim Devinney

“Our team came into City-County ready to swim,” said Salem coach Marianne Fleenor.  ”I wish I could mention all the swimmers who scored big points for us and who swam best times, but there is way too many to name them all.  I am so proud of their effort, their spirit and their determination.”

Stonegate also finished the season undefeated. The Gators won all six of their Monday night meets, including ending a streak of 54 straight Monday night wins by Hunting Hills.

“We came into the weekend happy with our undefeated season and we felt pretty confident that if we swam our best we could pull off a win,î said Fleenor. ìAfter the first day of competition we were thrilled to be in the lead and came back the second day fighting even harder to bring home the trophy.”

Hidden Valley Country Club, Salem’s other RVAA team, finished 12th overall in the 14 team meet and fourth in Division 2 for the season behind the Elks’ Club, Forest Hills, and Our Lady of Nazareth. Stonegate was in Division 1, which included the four teams with the most swimmers. There are four season divisions.

There were many highlights for the Gators. Miranda Kirtley won all five of her events, scoring the maximum points allowed by one swimmer, 300 points.  She also broke the 1988 25 Breast Record for the 7 – 8 division.

Hayden Helm dropped four seconds in his 50 breast, out touching the top seed to bring home a 1st Gold for the Gators. Allie Criss was first Gold in the 50 Backstroke and 100 IM and 100 Free. Wendy Rotanz took 1st Gold in the 50 Freestyle.

“One of my favorite events of the weekend was the 7-8 boys 25 free,” said Fleenor.  ”After our last meet I noticed all of the boys in this age group swam low :20’s.  I wanted them to be competitive in this event so I challenged them to swim under 20 seconds at City-County. They worked hard with all the coaches on dives, breathing and technique and five of them made it, some of those dropping four seconds.  Congrats to Kell Kirtley, Boone Fleenor, Logan Dewalt, Eli Martin and Hunter King.

“Our relays were nail biters,” continued Fleenor. “I am so proud of our relays, they really fought hard and in the end scored big points for our team.”

The 8-and-Under Free Relay team was comprised of McKenna Habeeb, Carly Wilkes, Hunter King and Miranda Kirtley. The 8 and U Medley Relay was the same three girls and Eli Martin. Both relays scored 2nd Gold.

On the 9-and-Up Free Relay Nick Lawson, Greyson McCay, Allie Criss and Josh Stick scored a 3rd Gold, and on the 9-and-Up Medley Relay Nick Lawson, Cassie Wheeler, Allie Criss and Josh Stick scored a 4th Gold.

“I have heard that some people believe that our win is based on the sheer number of swimmers we had this year, but I would say that the margin of victory not only reflects the great number of swimmers that we had this season but also the level of talent and dedication that our team has from age 5 to age 70,” said Fleenor.

Stonegate dominated the season. The Gators won the City-County meet by almost 5,000 points, and that’s where the cream rises to the top.

“Being the top team in any given year in the RVAA is an extreme honor,î said Fleenor.  ”As a coach it is such a privilege to stand on the side of the pool and watch our league, with its swimmers, parents, coaches, and volunteers come together and enjoy this sport of swimming.  It is a great pleasure to coach Stonegate because they are a community that has come together to help our team be the best they can be.  The Stonegate parents have put so much time and dedication into helping me bring our team together to learn the sport and love the sport and now have victory.

“I hope this win will not only encourage our kids to continue swimming for life but will reward our parents and volunteers for their time and support that they have given to our team.”

SALEM – The Stonegate Swim Club Gators will be trying to win their first Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association City-County championship in over 40 years this weekend when the Salem YMCA hosts the annual season ending event.

“I have not seen any records, but the rumor is that Stonegate has not won city-county since 1970,” said Gators coach Mary Ann Fleenor. “Can we do it?  I believe that if we swim smart, remembering little things like two hand touches and kicking our feet, and continue to have fun, the championship is ours.”

The optimism comes from an undefeated season of Monday night meets, including an impressive victory over the Hunting Hills Country Club. That was the first Monday night loss for HHCC in 55 meets.

The Stonegate Swim Club "Gators" are hoping to win their first City-County title in over 40 years this weekend. By Brian Hoffman

This weekend, it won’t be easy. Hunting Hills will be looking for revenge, and Stonegate’s strength is in its’ numbers. In a big meet having the best talent is more important than quantity of swimmers.

“We have 203 registered swimmers and we’ll be taking over 90 percent of our team,”said Fleenor. “That is a record high for us. The coaches are so excited that the team has come together and is putting forth the effort to be city champs. We are not the fastest team out there, but we are strong and steady.”

The meet will be Friday and Saturday at the “Y”. The 10 and Unders swim in the mornings and the relays are in the middle of the day, right around lunch. There will be an eight-and-under relay and then a nine-and-up relay. Then, in the afternoon, the 11-and-Overs swim, beginning at 1 pm.

“We have such great families that support the entire team that even if we don’t win, we will have put all we had into it and we will be proud,” said Fleenor.  ”Just being undefeated this season is a huge victory for us, so really we have already won.”

Hunting Hills was the overall champion of the meet with 11,537.6 points, while the Roanoke Country Club was second with 11,108.2. Stonegate was next with 9,880.1 to place third overall among the 14 pools entered. Hidden Valley had 4,745.5 points to place 11th overall and third in Division 2.

Cullen Cash of the Stonegate Swim Club competes in the butterfly event in last weekend's City-County Swim Meet at the Salem YMCA pool. Photo by Jim Devinney

“I was very pleased with our performance,” said Stonegate coach Marianne Fleenor. “Our two most exciting events were the 8-and-under Medley Relay that Stonegate won and the women’s 50 and over 50 free.”

The relay team included Carly Griffith, Nick Lawson, Anna Clare Fleenor, and Miranda Kirtley. In the women’s free Wendy Rotanz not only won, but broke the meet record with a 30.80.

“We had some other great races where our swimmers won 1st place,” said Fleenor. “Nelson Helm was first in the 50 Breast and 100 Free and Blair Burns was first in his 50 Fly and Wendy Rotanz also won her 100 IM and 50 Fly.”

Stonegate had 10 swimmers score in the Gold Division in all their 5 races. They scored the most points overall for the team. Those swimmers included Nelson Helm with 296 points, Rotanz with 298 points, Burns with 290, Allie Criss with 270, Josh Stick with 290, Anna Clare Fleenor with 274, Miranda Kirtley with 276, Carly Griffith with 271.5, Nick Lawson with 290, and Jake Lawson with 277.

Stonegate’s 9 and Up relays scored 7th in both the free relay and medley relay. This relay consisted of Jake Lawson, Maia Foley, Nelson Helm, and London Reinhard.

Cameryn Norris dropped 15 seconds in her 50 Fly and some others who improved their times included Will Hicks (6 and U) in the 25 Back made a Gold time, dropping 18 seconds and scoring 46 points; Chandler Jearls (11 and 12) dropping 15 seconds in his 50 back and 9 seconds in both his 50 Fly and 50 Free to score 47 points this weekend; and Carson Pugh dropping 12 seconds in both his 100 IM and 100 Free, 8 seconds in his 50 back to score a total of 57 points for Stonegate. Jordi Berroteran dropped 35 seconds in his 50 Free and Aaron Peters dropped 20 seconds in his 50 Free.

Hidden Valley fielded a smaller team than in recent years, when the Blue Wave was consistently in Division 1. However, the Wave had some good performances as well.

“Although our numbers were small this weekend, HVCC swimmers made a strong showing,” said coach Becky Guynn.

In the 7-8 division, Elena Lloyd led the age group with gold times in five events. In addition, 7-8’s Daniel Byrnes, Chris Farmer, Emily Allara, Grace Graham and Macy Farmer scored a mix of gold and silver times each.

In the 6 and under division, Graydon Bartlett recorded gold times in all of his events and Hope Smith, Kalei Memmer and Elizabeth Walker were strong contributors.

Hayes Bartlett had all gold times for the 9-10 division and Kaitlyn Westerhold, Emmy Graham and Grace Whitesell earned points for the Blue Wave as well.

Maddie Robinson scored 5 gold times in the 11-12 division and Riley Farmer, Will Pryse and Justin Wright recorded strong silver times. Sarah Hans and Reid Williams challenged in the 13-14 division with gold and silver times and Rachael Wright earned gold times in the 15-16 division.

“We took less than 50 swimmers to City County this year, the smallest team I can remember in my 16 years of swimming for HVCC,” said Guynn. “But I am very proud of how well everyone swam, and not just those who scored gold times but the kids who were dropping ten and twelve seconds from their seed times. We finished 11th at the meet and 3rd in our division for the season, but considering our numbers I think that’s pretty good.”

Hidden Valley's Katherine Moles congratulates Cave Spring's Jackie Crawford on a record-breaking swim in the 100-yard backstroke. -Photos by Sharon Nanz

Nearly four hundred athletes from eighteen schools competed in preliminary heats at the Gator Aquatic Center as they vied for spots in the finals session. Vaughn says that most of her swimmers swam four events in preliminaries and that “having to come back…after a short 90 minute break and do it all over again…was a daunting task.”

Hidden Valley and Cave Spring went one-two with scores of 495-343, respectively, in the men’s division and 469-323 in the women’s. Fork Union Academy, last year’s men’s champions, was not in attendance. North Cross School brought two swimmers to the finals.

The Knights and Titans relay teams showcased their strength by winning three events each. Thanks to the talents of Nathan Ewoldt, Josh Klimaitis, Jacob Siar, and Luke Munson, the Knights won the men’s 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay events. Cave Spring women Jackie Crawford, Maddie Kennedy, Ali Horn and Amory Mayo out-touched the Titans in the 200-yard medley relay.

Titans Dylan Otruba, Alex Vance, Mark Adams and Garrett Vaughn swam to an easy victory in the 200-yard medley relay event, while Hidden Valley women Caroline Caldwell, Katie Campbell, Stephanie Karras and Katie Young won a close 200-yard freestyle relay race. Teammates Lauren Gray, Sami Norman, Katherine Moles and Devin Henry finished up strong in the last event of the evening as their 400-yard freestyle relay team broke the Titans’ own meet record with a winning time of 3:45.00.

Cave Spring swimmers claimed several meet records of their own on Saturday. Siar, a sophomore, broke the 200-yard freestyle record with a time of 1:45.97, while sophomore Jackie Crawford snagged the 50-yard freestyle record, clocking a 25.09.

She also established a new 100-yard backstroke record by posting a time of 59.30, breaking the record held by former Hidden Valley swimmer Lauren Hines, the 2009 state backstroke champion.

Junior Ali Horn also rewrote the record book. An All-American swimmer and state record holder, the Cave Spring swimmer broke her own records in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle.

The southwest county teams dominated most of the individual events, taking first in all but three. Cave Spring took the gold in seven events; Hidden Valley won six.

Points are awarded through sixteenth place, however, and the Titans ran up the score with their ability to capitalize on that system.

Hidden Valley junior Mark Adams says, “We have a lot of depth. We’re able to succeed in all the events.”

Knights head coach Andy Huray points to his team’s depth as the key to their success, as well. “A lot of our talent is up in our senior class, but we’ve had a very large group of new swimmers come in,” he says. “They’re really helping us out a lot. They came in ready to go and they’re working really hard.”

Vaughn is “extremely proud” of the Titans’ performance and says, “The team showed me they had miles of fortitude and the willingness to succeed. Most bettered their times from the morning swims…it was a beautiful thing to witness.”

The Knights and Titans will go head to head in a dual meet on January 27 at the Gator Aquatic Center, where Cave Spring hopes to turn the tables on its closest competitor.

Byrd's Kacy Edsall winds down after swimming the anchor leg of the 200 meter Free Relay in Saturday's All-Timesland meet at the Gator Center. - Photo by Brian Hoffman

The Byrd girls finished seventh in the meet and the boys were 15th. Hidden Valley swept the boys and girls championships and Cave Spring took second in both. Preliminaries were held during the day and the top 16 in each event were invited back for the evening finals.

Byrd had six swimmers make it to the evening session.

The top finish for the Terriers came from the 200 Free Relay team, which placed fifth. That team was comprised of Caitlin Gerig, Chelsea Woolfolk, Courtney Heck, and Kacy Edsall. The 200 Medley Relay team of Gerig, Brittany Lane, Woolfolk, and Edsall took seventh.

Individually Woolfolk was 10th in the 200 IM and 11 in the 100 Butterfly. Heck was 10th in the Backstroke and 12th in the 100 Fly, and Luke Gerig was 16th in the Breaststroke for the boys.

“Overall, it was a really great day!” said Byrd coach Krista Martin. “I love the fact that there is a trial and finals meet the kids can participate in. It’s exciting to try and make it back top 16. Plus they get a chance to see really fast swimming at night and get in there and race. Finals was a great opportunity to think about making state cuts and really see where we stand compared to other teams in the valley.”

Even the swimmers who didn’t make the evening session got a lot out of the meet.

“We had some best times and some big drops,” said Martin. “I love seeing the swimmers get so excited about a best time. It’s great when their hard work pays off.”

Last week in a dual meet the Terriers defeated Staunton River, 167-151. That evened Byrd’s Blue Ridge District record at 1-1. The Girls won their meet 121 to 40, while the boys, lost 111 to 46.

The meet was Byrd’s senior night seniors honored were Taylor Corso, Kaitie Frazier, Ariel Lackey, Brittany Lane, and Chelsea Woolfolk.

“It was exciting to win another district meet,” said Martin. “We were really able to get up and race.”

The Terriers are off for exams this week.

She attended the American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic last year, a training event that drew over 700 coaches from around the world.  Masters members must belong to the Carter Athletic Center; memberships are available on an individual or family basis.  The Masters program costs only an additional $25 per month; new members receive a two-week free trial period. For more information about the schedule and fees, please call the Carter Center at 989-7284.