If you heard a shattering noise on Sunday in Chatham, it was the sound of a national Age Group swimming record being broken. USA Swimming’s national 13-14 Boy’s 200m Medley relay record fell during the course of the 2005 Virginia Long Course Age Group Championship held at Hargrave Military Academy’s Onishi-Davenport Aquatic Center, July 27-31, 2005.
“It was a fast meet in a fast pool. It’s always fun when those two elements come together,” said Hargrave Age Group Coach William Wiebking.
The record was broken by the relay team from Richmond’s NOVA of Virgnia Aquatics, one of the top club teams in the country and considered by many to be the fastest team in Virginia.
The club’s 13-14 relay team of Tom Sheranek, Justin Litz, KJ Shaw and Mac Anthony broke the national record on a second try after they missed the record by just two hundredths of a second. The previous record of 1:55.73 was set in 1993 by the Cyprus-Fairbanks Swim Club (Fleet) of Texas. The NOVA team missed the record with a 1:55.74.
After the near miss, the accuracy of the timing equipment was called into question, and there was determined to be a problem by USA Swimming officials. After working the problem through with NOVA’s coach, USA Swimming officials (including those based at USA Swimming’s national headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado) and Hargrave’s Aquatics Director, Coach Scott Bowser, the team was provided another chance to break the record in a time trial.
The team then sent the Fleet team into history with a 1:53.83, besting the previous record by 1.9 seconds. The achievement was also a state and meet record.
“The error seems to have been a huge benefit to NOVA’s 13-14 200m medley relay team,” said Wiebking. “While the record might have been in the back of their minds when the team raced in competition, it was clearly their focus when they swam the time trial. The entire pool area was pulling for them.”
The during the last long course age group championship at Hargrave, pre-Olympian Katie Hoff achieved an Olympic trials qualifying time for the 2004 Olympics, which she attended. At 14, Hoff set a new state, meet and pool record at the time. She was also the record breaker and winner of 400 IM at the Toronto hosted World Championships on Sunday, posting a 4:40.85.
NOVA won the overall Girl’s team standing with 2,899.50 points, and won the overall Boy’s team standing with 2,357 points. Combined, NOVA would win the championships with an outstanding 5,256.50 points overall.
Second place for Girl’s was Poseidon Swimming with 1,117.50 points and third place was Williamsburg Aquatic Club with 1,004.50 points. Second place for Boy’s was Poseidon Swimming with 1,233.50 points and third place was the Coast Guard Blue Dolphins with 741 points. Poseidon is located in Richmond. The Coast Guard team is located on the peninsula.
In combined scores, Poseidon Swimming would take second with 2,351. Typhoon Aquatics would take third with 1,677 points. Typhoon is also located in Yorktown.
Additionally, several state and meet records were rewritten over the course of the meet by various USA Swimming clubs from across the state. For more information on achievements earned in your area, please refer to both the Virginia Swimming club roster page http://virginiaswimming.org/Clubs/Clubs%20Roster.htm and the online results found at http://www.virginiaswimming.org/vsiresults/LC_Age_Group_Champs/index.htm.
Local Hargrave Aquatics athletes preformed very well during the course of the 3 ½ day event.
Jacob Conner, age 14 of Danville, had the highest finish for Hargrave at the meet in earning 7th place in the 800m Freestyle, 9:29.64. This race featured a substantial 26.82 second time improvement over his previous best. Conner would also take 11th in the 1500m Freestyle, 18:30.11, and 12th in the 400m Freestyle, 4:40.31.
Jennifer Murphy, age 13 of Altavista, took 13th place in both the 100m and 200m Breaststroke events. She swam 1:24.10 and 3:00.85 respectively. Murphy’s finest racing was in the 200m Breaststroke, were she also improved her personal best time by 1.30 seconds.
Other local Hargrave Aquatics athletes competing in the meet were: Jessie Abbott, age 13 of Republican Grove; Joseph Campbell, age 14 of Gretna; David Collins, age 11 of Danville; Jesse Conner, age 11 of Danville; Chelsea Law, age 12 of Gretna; Sami Norman, age 11 of Martinsville; Hannah Patterson, age 10 of Martinsville; Jason Reese, age 12 of Gretna; Katheryn Thompson, age 11 of Chatham; and Sara Williams, age 11 of Chatham.
Many of these athletes competed together on relay teams, which greatly helped the club earn 18th place overall.
USA Swimming, Inc. is a subdivision of the United State Olympic Committee (USOC) and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Hargrave Aquatics will have try-outs for its very active swimming program in September. Please contact Head Coach Scott Bowser at Hargrave Military Academy for more details.
