Tigers Have Great Showing in VIC Championship; Claim Second Place

Benjamin J Veshi

The Hargrave Tigers claimed second place in the 2020 VIC/BRC Conference Championship this past Friday.

Coming into the championship meet, the Tigers had great confidence as they competed well in conference (7-3) throughout the course of the season. An added benefit for Hargrave-the VIC/BRC Conference Championship was held in their beautiful, home pool, the ODAC. Across the board, the VIC was very strong in swimming this year, so despite the high level of confidence, the Tigers were up against some stout competition.

Due to the regulations of the meet, Hargrave was only able to submit four swimmers per event, which created some interesting situations in terms of making sure the strongest swimmers were slated for their best events. However, the Tigers showed their depth and had many members of the team step up to fill in any gaps, trying to give the team the best chance to win the meet.

Covenant 118
Hargrave 93
Fishburne 81
Roanoke Catholic 68
Virginia Episcopal 67
North Cross 59
New Covenant 14

Notable Performances Included:
 –A Team 200 Medley Relay (Andrew Bolz, Nick DeVeer, Scott Kennedy, Nathan Higdon) led us to first place in the first event. A great start with an electrifying atmosphere. 
–Nathan Higdon swam his fastest 200 freestyle (and finishing second), with Scott Kennedy just missing out on finishing in the top 8. Notable in the event was Tristyn Gavulic and Jay Thompson who set personal bests.
–In the 200 IM Andrew Bolz set a season best and placing first. A huge thank you to Michael Lewis and Andrew Ponton for stepping up and taking on this event.
–In the 50 freestyle Wesley Marquardt placed 7th, and Kayline Pruett setting a personal best.
–For the 100 Butterfly, Nick DeVeer set a personal best (5th place), and Scott Kennedy (7th place). Notably, Gage Crisp took 3 seconds off his time.
–The 100 freestyle proved to be too fast for our guys swimming so unfortunately we did not score any points. Ben Gregori did however, dropped 2 seconds on his time, Caleb Chester equalled his fastest ever time exactly! and Gabe Chester took another second off his time.
–There was some strong competition for the 500 freestyle, but Nathan Higdon managed to hold onto 3rd place and Wesley Marquardt dropping 11 seconds to set an impressive personal best.
–Our 200 A Team Free Relay finished 6th (Kayline Pruett, Jay Thompson, Gage Crisp, Caleb Chester).
–For the 100 yard backstroke Andrew Bolz (1st) and Michael Lewis (8th) scored some valuable points.
–In the 100 yard Breaststroke Nick DeVeer (4th place) and Ben Gregori (7th place) set personal bests, with Kayline Pruett just missing out of the scoring.
–A blistering finish by our 400 yard freestyle A relay team saw us end the evening finishing that event first place!

The Tigers are preparing now for the VISAA State Swimming Championships on February 14-15, where the following young men have qualified to compete:
Andrew Bolz ’23
Ben Gregori ’21
Michael Lewis ’20
Nathan Higdon ’21
Nick DeVeer ’21
Andrew Ponton ’22
Scott Kennedy ’20
Wesley Marquardt ’21
 

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