By Vincent Jackson

   The Ponte Vedra High School swim team dominated the competition on Wednesday, Oct 27. The girls came through with the win, edging out Duncan U Fletcher High School by 84 points and the other competition wasn’t even close. On the boys’ side, it was a hard-fought meet and PVHS had some outstanding performances from certain individuals, but the team did not end up with the win over Fletcher and Orange Park High School.

   The first event was the epitome of dominance from the girls 200 yard medley relay, PVHS won this event by over seven full seconds, the leaders of this relay squad were junior, Ann Wohlgemuth, sophomore, Annabelle MacAdams, freshman, Mary Agnes Smith and freshman, Penelope Zarczynski. In the next event, the girls 200 yard freestyle, Mary Agnes Smith led a PVHS sweep of the top three swimmers, following closely behind was senior, Holly Cox and sophomore, Sydney Straub. The next event was the girls 200 yard individual medley, and the PVHS girls had yet another top three sweep, led by junior, Brooke Batelli and junior, Olivia Copland then Annabelle MacAdams rounded out the front three. PVHS had another top three sweep in the girls 100 yard butterfly, with Penelope Zarczynski, Ann Wohlgemuth and Mary Agnes Smith. The PVHS girls came through with the win in the 200 yard freestyle over Fletcher, this win was led by Ann Wohlgemuth, Penelope Zarczynski, Holly Cox and Olivia Copland. Finally, to cap off the girls astonishing performance, the PVHS girls won the 400 yard freestyle with Mary Agnes Smith, Holly Cox, Olivia Copland and Sydney Straub absolutely blowing the competition out of the water.

   On the boys side, junior, Fabrizzio Lijeron Herrera came in second place in a stacked 100 yard butterfly event, Fabrizzio edged out seven swimmers by less than five seconds. In the boys 500 yard freestyle, freshman, Dean Batelli came in fourth out of the 18 participants. In the 200 yard freestyle relay, sophomore, Jason Li, Fabrizzio Lijeron Herrera, sophomore, Ryan Yang and senior, Mahad Niazi snagged a third-place finish in this event. In the boys 100 yard breaststroke, Ryan Yang placed third out of 25 and got some clutch points for PVHS.

   Overall, the boys had a great performance at districts and PVHS had plenty of individuals that stepped up their game and were fine role players in the third-place effort. The girls had their most impressive performance of the year and they will hope to carry this momentum into the upcoming regionals meet.

REGIONAL COMPETITION

   PVHS competed in their regional championship on November 3, at Chiles High School, and the PVHS girls had one of their best meets this year and it came in one of the biggest meets of the year. The boys also showed up and came to compete snagging a third place.

   To start off the meet, the PVHS girls had a three second win in the 200 yard medley relay, led by junior, Ann Wohlgemuth, junior, Annabelle MacAdams, freshman, Mary Agnes Smith and freshman, Penelope Zarczynski. Ann Wohlgemuth also came through with a one second win in the 100 yard backstroke. Mary Agnes Smith and senior, Holly Cox came in second and third for the girls 200 yard freestyle. In the 50 yard freestyle, Penelope Zarczynski came in third for this event out of 24 competitors. Ann Wohlgemuth and Mary Agnes Smith came in second and third for the 100 yard butterfly, along with Penelope Zarczynski coming in fifth place, giving us three out of the top five. The girls also got second place in the 200 yard freestyle relay, a close battle with Chiles led by Ann Wohlgemuth, Penelope Zarczynski, Holly Cox and junior, Olivia Copland. In the girls 100 yard breaststroke, Annabelle MacAdams and Olivia Copland came in second and third for this event. To end it off, in the 400 yard freestyle relay, Mary Agnes Smith, Holly Cox, Olivia Copland and sophomore, Sydney Straub.

  On the boys side of the meet, junior, Fabrizzio Lijeron Herrera came in seventh place for the 100 yard butterfly. Freshman, Dean Batelli and sophomore, Ben Black both had great swims in the 500 yard freestyle, giving PVHS clutch points in a stacked field. In the 200 yard freestyle relay, sophomore, Jason Li, Fabrizzio Lijeron Herrera, sophomore, Ryan Yang and senior, Mahad Niazi.

   The next meet for PVHS is the state championship meet and it will almost certainly be a battle.

STATES COMPETITION

Ponte Vedra High School girls competed in the state championship meet on Saturday, November 12, and all of the hard work that they have put in this season was all put into motion in this meet.

   To kick off this championship meet, PVHS placed first in the 200 yard IM relay, led by junior, Ann Wohlgemuth, junior, Annabelle MacAdams, freshman, Mary Agnes Smith and freshman, Penelope Zarczynski. In the 200 yard free, Mary Agnes Smith got fifth with a time of 1:54:69 and senior, Holly Cox came in ninth with a time of 1:55.62. Junior, Olivia Copland and Annabelle MacAdams came in 11th and 12th place in the 200 yard IM. Penelope Zarczynski came in clutch in the 50 yard freestyle, placing sixth in a close battle. The 100 yard fly was truly an event where PVHS dominated, where three girls came in the top 15, Ann Wohlgemuth placed fourth, Mary Agnes Smith placed fifth and Penelope Zarczynski place 13th. In the 200 and 400 yard relays PVHS dominated, placing first in the 200 yard and second in the 400 yard, the 200 yard win was led by Penelope Zarczynski, Ann Wohlgemuth, Holly Cox and Olivia Copland, the 400 yard runner up team featured Mary Agnes Smith, Holly Cox, Olivia Copland and sophomore, Sydney Straub.

   When the meet was over PVHS had just won the state title with a score of 245 points (42 points ahead of second place). Overall PVHS had their best season yet and they hope to keep grinding and make it back to back titles next year.