The Groundhog didn’t see its shadow at the 2006 Groundhog swimming meet held at Hargrave’s Onishi-Davenport Aquatic Center. The two day meet ran February 4-5, 2006, and hosted nine teams from both Virginia and North Carolina.
Every year, the Groundhog meet offers a unique opportunity for both large and small teams to compete for a team trophy. Trophies are available for the top three overall team winners. In the large team category, Hargrave Aquatics took second place with 3,593.50 points. The Virginia Gators, from both Charlottesville and Roanoke, was the winning team with 6,534.50 points, and the Piedmont Family YMCA of Charlottesville took third with 2,648 points.
In the small team category, the Southwest Aquatic Team of Pulaski, Virginia, won with 936 points. Rockbridge Storm from Lexington, Virginia, took second with 473 points. In third place was the Star City Aquatic Team of Roanoke with 263.50 points.
Hargrave Aquatics entered 51 athletes in the meet. Almost all Hargrave Aquatics athletes had exceptional performances as they head towards championships. Numerous athletes captured many second place, third place and top eight finishes. The following are only the highlights.
Andrew Hetzner, age 19 from Riverside, California, Lauren Hines, age 15 from Forest, Virginia, and Ann O’Brien, age 16 of Chatham, Virginia, each won four events each in the 15 and Older age division. True to form, Hetzner swept several events. These events included the 200y Freestyle, 1:45.85, 100y Butterfly, 53.81, 100y Backstroke, 56.20, and the 200y IM, 2:04.50. Hines, a phenom from the Lynchburg area, captured the 100y Freestyle, 54.75, 100y Breaststroke, 1:14.88, and 400y IM, 44:53.52. O’Brien easily claimed victory in the 200y Freestyle, 2:04.06, 100y Butterfly, 1:01.43, 100y Backstroke, 1:03.02, and the 200y IM, 2:18.04.
Three members of Abbott family managed to sweep several events in different age groups. Brittany Abbott, Jessica Abbott and Andrew Abbott claimed first place in six events. Each of the siblings won two events between them. Brittany Abbott, age 15, won two distance events by taking first in the 15& Over 500y Freestyle, 5:45.11, and 1650y Freestyle, 20:06.12, events. Jessica Abbott, age 13, flew to victory in the 100y Butterfly, 1:05.18, and 200y IM, 2:27.32. Andrew Abbott, age 6, defeated eight-year-olds to win the 100y Freestyle, 1:21.87, and 25y Freestyle, 17.50. The family resides in Republican Grove.
Jacob Dole, age 14 of Corbin, Kentucky, was a serious threat in the Boy’s 13-14 age division with wins in the 200y IM, 2:11.19, 100y Freestyle, 50.79, and 50y Freestyle, 23.34. These are very notable times for his age group, which keeps him well on track for a bright and rewarding swimming career.
Sami Norman, age 12 of Martinsville, managed two breakout swims by winning the 100y Butterfly, 1:08.81, and 100y Freestyle, 1:00.16, in the 11-12 age division. Norman is on the hunt for Age Group Championship cuts, of which she pick up a few more at the meet. She also placed no lower than forth place in the entire meet.
Single event winners included: Drew Bennett, age 15 of Danville; Chelsea Law, age 13 of Gretna; Jennifer Murphy, age 13 of Altavista; and Andy Smith, age 8 of Chatham.
Bennett won the Boy’s 15 and Over 500y Freestyle, 5:20.98. His goal is to ‘go under’ five minutes in that event. Law claimed victory in the Girl’s 13-14 200y Freestyle, 2:07.88. Law earned her best time by 4.23 seconds for the event. Murphy continued to dominate the Girl’s 13-14 200y Breaststroke with 2:37.01. Murphy’s meteoric growth both helped and hindered her effort in the event, but remains on track for even bigger things. Smith swam a well executed 100 IM, which earned him a new best time at 1:35.32. Smith’s competition began too hard, which left him well positioned for a strong finish.
Other notable performances were turned in by the team. Three girls have amazing first time swims in two events each. Megan Bennett, age 13 of Danville, swam her first 1,650y Freestyle or mile swim, 19:45.09, and 400y IM, 5:24.18 in terrific first swim times. Hannah Patterson, age 11 of Martinsville, also swam her first 1,650y Freestyle, 23:27.84, and 400y IM swim, 6:11.43. Patterson had just age into the 11-12 Girl’s age group. Ali Stephens-Pickeral, age 11 of Danville, also completed her first 500y Freestyle, 6:35.68 and 400y IM, 6:11.75.
David West, age 11 of Altavista, managed a 19:46.81 in the 1,650y Freestyle in his first swim of that event. Teammate Jason Reese was close behind with a 20:10.08 and a 1:05.83 second time improvement.
Katheryn Thompson, age 11 of Chatham, and Katherine Wall, age 9 of Chatham, both achieved best times in seven out of eight events. Their eighth event was a brand new event for each of them.
Hargrave Aquatics is a club sports affiliated with USA Swimming. As the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year.
