Hargrave Aquatics athletes Ann O’Brien and Jason Reese placed top eight in several events during Virginia Swimming’s Short Course Age Group Championship meet. The meet consists of the very best age group athletes in the state. 653 athletes competed in the four day event run March 18-21, 2004, at the Freedom Aquatic Center in Manassas, Virginia.
Chatham Hall student and Hargrave swimmer Ann O’Brien, age 14, placed top eight in two out of eight swims, the maximum number of swims an athlete can have in the meet. Her primary stroke is backstroke, were she took third overall in the 100y Backstroke, 1:01.30, and 5th overall in the 200y Backstroke, 2:13.14. This is O’Brien’s first year with both Chatham Hall and Hargrave Aquatics. She is a freshman at Chatham Hall and has a bright swimming high school swimming career ahead of her.
Jason Reese, age 10, also qualified for the maximum number of events like O’Brien. He also earned best times in each of his swims, with his two fastest swims being in the longer 200y and 500y Freestyle events. Reese’s 200y Freestyle finished 5th overall with a time of 2:20.03, bettering his time by an astonishing 5.91 seconds. His 500y Freestyle was 6th overall with a time of 6:08.97 and a 8.99 second time improvement. Reese also captured 8th in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 1:05.40 and a .54 second time improvement.
Also attending Age Group Champs were Hargrave athletes Jessie Abbott, age 11, of Republican Grove in Halifax; Jacob Conner, age 13, of Danville; Jesse Conner, age 9, of Danville; Jennifer Murphy, age 12, of Altavista; and Sarah-Jane Weisberg, age 14, of Chatham Hall. While not attaining a finals top 8th berth, they proved what they can do as some of the best athletes in the state.
