Back in the pool

The first day of the three-day Commonwealth Games went off without a hitch Friday as hundreds of swimmers from around the state came out to War Memorial Pool at Ridgeview Park in Waynesboro.

Wave after wave of swimmers, ranging from 6 to 18 years old, dove into the water competing in 28 different events, each with several heats. From 8 a.m. to about 7:30 p.m. coaches paced the length of the pool yelling and waving their arms for swimmers to push harder. They kept times and encouraged each swimmer after their individual races.

Ryan Sprang, the coach of the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club that operates out of the Waynesboro YMCA, could be seen all day standing by the pool giving his swimmers advice on how to do better and encouraging them to stretch, drink water and find shade. The SMAC team brought 53 competitors to the pool Friday.

“It’s going pretty well,” Sprang said. “We take a lot of pride in it since it’s our meet. The whole town of Waynesboro gets into it.”

Although this is far from being the year-end event for the SMAC season, this meet is highly anticipated. It is a meet to challenge each swimmer, but also to see where improvements need to be made so they can win later in the season.

“They swim to get their best times, to see where they can improve,” Sprang said.

“”We’ve had good luck with the weather, with the timing systems and with the pool equipment,” said meet co-director David Bihl. There was a brief period of rain, but nothing that would have delayed the meet.

“The swimmers are the least affected by the rain. They’re under the water or wet already,” Bihl said with a laugh.

It takes more than just luck to get an event of this size rolling, though.

“It takes a lot of planning,” Sprang said. “Good people volunteer time a month leading up to it. We kind of have it down how things need to be done.”

Since the SMAC team is relativley small, a lot of the work is done by volunteers. Bihl said there are 20 volunteers who work with the swimmers from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day and an additional 20 who are officials.

Since there are no qualifiers for the Games, the only stipulations to competing are space and whether the child is registered with USA Swimming.

“Whole teams can go together, which makes it popular,” Bihl said. “It’s a great pool — great people. It’s exciting to be at a pool with a lot of other kids.”

“There’s better competition here,” said Sophia Gross. “It’s more organized.”

Gross lives in California and travels to Virginia each summer to visit family for three weeks and swims with SMAC while in the commonwealth.

“The first year was hard, because I didn’t know anyone,” Gross said. “Now I feel like I know everyone. I enjoy it.”

“It’s sort of like a family, only smaller,” said 14-year-old Alex Rayle. “You get more individual time with the coach.”

Rayle came in third in the 13 and 14 boys 400-meter freestlye with a time of 4 minutes, 36.11 seconds. He also finished second in the 13 and 14 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:33.30 and fourth in the 13 to 14 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:58.04.

“I like when you swim in a meet and do really well, show your hard work paid off,” Rayle said.

SMAC had a winner in the 11 and 12 girls 100-meter backstroke as Remedy Rule swam it in 1:13.15. Norah Hunt came in fifth with a time of 1:23.72 and Carly Witt came in ninth with 1:27.14.

The 11 and 12 boys 100-meter backstroke was won by Andrew Williamson with 1:16.13. SMAC swimmer Gannon Willcutts came in 10th with a 1:24.39.

SMAC placed three in the top ten in the 11 and 12 girls 100-meter breaststroke. Olivia Heeb, the winner, had a time of 1:27.01. Jessie Arnold came in third with a time of 1:30.18 and Rule came in seventh with a time of 1:35.57.

The winner of the 11 and 12 boys 100-meter breaststroke was Williamson with a time of 1:23.26.

In the 11 and 12 girls 200-meter freestyle, SMAC swimmer Arnold took first with a time of 2:22.83. Hunt got second with 2:27.99; Olivia Heeb fifth with 2:37.31 and Carly Witt was sixth with 2:37.49.

The 11 and 12 boys 200-meter freestyle was won by Drew Vipperman with a time of 2:29.32. Willcutts got third with 2:31.07, Bobby Carey got seventh with 2:43.83 and Hunter McMillon was eighth with 2:46.44.

The 11 and 12 girls 200-meter breaststroke was won by SMAC’s Heeb with a time of 3:12.32. Savannah Scarbrough came in eighth with 3:29.17.

The 11 and 12 boys 200-meter breaststroke was won by James Kegelman with 2:59.66.

The 8-and-under girls 100-meter backstroke was won by Shelby Stanley with a time of 1:37.10. The boys race was won by Nathan Gaspar with 1:32.55.

The 9 and 10 girls 100-meter backstroke and 200 freestyle was won by Stephanie Nardone

The 9 and 10 boys 100-meter backstroke was won by Brian Hynes with 1:20.28. SMAC swimmer Alexander Flowers came in fourth with a time of 1:29.86. Flowers won the 400-meter freestyle with 5:38.90. Hynes also won the 100-meter breaststroke with 1:39.81.

The 8-and-under girls 100-meter breaststroke was won by Shelby Stanley with a time of 1:53.81. The boys race was won by Shane Scott with a time of 1:58.15. SMAC swimmer Benton Turner got fourth with 2:02.31.

The 9 and 10 girls 100-meter breaststroke was won by Lindsay Price with 1:34.62. SMAC swimmer Eleri Hayden got ninth with 1:46.85

The 8-and-under girls 200-meter freestyle was won by Cambrie Cooke with a time of 3:06.20. The boys race was won by Nathan Gaspar with 3:09.93. SMAC swimmer Benton Turner got seventh with 3:48.32.

The 9 and 10 boys 200-meter freestyle was won by Brian Hynes with a time of 2:35.24. Flowers got third with a time of 2:45.47.

The 13 and 14 girls 100-meter freetstyle was won by SMAC swimmer Anna Corley with 1:05.66. Corley also won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:16.22. The boys race was won by Ryan Mitchell with 58.55.

The 15-and-over girls 200-meter freestyle was won by SMAC swimmer Katie Keefer with 2:14.34. Keegan Abar got fourth with 2:18.20 and Scout McDevitt got eighth with 2:22.24. The boys race was also won by a SMAC swimmer, Peter Bihl, with a time of 2:09.89. Michael Mowen got second with 2:10.01 and Josh Dugan got ninth with 2:15.00.

The 13 and 14 girls 200-meter breaststroke was won by Marya Jazouli with a time of 3:04.34. SMAC swimmer Alexis Campbell got sixth with 3:11.09. Campbell also came in seventh in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:21.12. The boys race was won by Clark Hou with a time of 2:39.65. SMAC swimmer Matt Bihl got 10th with a time of 3:08.96.

The 15-and-over girls 200-meter breaststroke was won by Natalie Cronk with a time if 2:54.19. The boys race was won by Ted Sukramani with a time of 2:41.32. SMAC swimmer Greg Harris got ninth with 3:08.39.

The 15-and-over girls 100-meter breaststroke was won by Natalie Cronk with a time of 1:12.80. SMAC swimmers Keegan Abar got fifth with 1:15.84 and Scout McDevitt got 10th with 1:21.02.

The 13 and 14 boys 100-meter backstroke was won by Ryan Mitchell with a time of 1:10.01.

The 15-and-over boys 100-meter backstroke was won by Joe Stratton with 1:07.20. SMAC swimmer Michael Mowen got third with 1:10.87 and Peter Bihl got ninth with 1:15.18.

The 13 and 14 girls 200-meter butterfly was won by Brandy Daniel with 1:25.06. The boys race was won by Tyler Gimple with 2:31.97.

The 15-and-over girls 200-meter butterfly was won by Madeline Bowe with 2:35.85. SMAC swimmer Katie Keefer got fifth with 2:45.67. The boys race was won by Adam Carter with 2:24.73. SMAC swimmer Robert Turner got sixth with 2:47.57.

The 9 and 10 girls 400-meter freestyle was won by Julianna Jones with 6:07.45. SMAC swimmer Mackenzie Carter got fourth with 7:10.22.

Five of the top 10 girls in the 11 and 12 400-meter freestyle were SMAC swimmers. Remedy Rule placed first with 4:42.77; Arnold placed second with 4:48.12; Hunt came in third with 5:07.51; Jordan Miller got fifth with 5:27.84 and Lindsey Carter got ninth with 6:03.59.

The 11 and 12 boys 400-meter freestyle was won by CJ Higdon with a time of 4:57.92. SMAC swimmer Gannon Willcutts got third with 5:14.32 and fellow SMACer Hunter McMillon got fourth with 5:36.32.

The 13 and 14 girls 400-meter freestyle was won by Hannah Harper with a time of 5:06.36. SMAC swimmers Anna Corley placed second with 5:07.18 and Alexis Campbell placed fifth with 5:25.42.

The 15-and-over girls 400-meter freestlye was won by Keefer with 4:42.63. Abar placed third with 4:46.72 and McDevitt placed seventh with 5.05.60.

The 13 and 14 boys 400-meter freestyle was won by Shane Condon with 4:32.68.

The 15-and-over boys 400-meter freestyle was won by Mowen, who got 4:31.86. Bihl got second with 4:34.39; Turner got seventh with 4:48.21 and Justin Dugan got eighth with 4:50.65.