Pleasant Valley Pool Swimmers Open Season Strong

"We can take Lake Hiawatha any 'ol time!" were the words that rang out as the pre-meet cheer from the Pleasant Valley Pool Piranhas swim team, but they were soon put to the test during the first few events of the meet between Pleasant Valley and Lake Hiawatha last Wednesday.

PVP easily took the first race, the girls 100-meter medley relay, in 1:09.12; a full three seconds faster than the following LH relay group. However, the PVP's challenge was quickly answered when the LH boys won their 100-meter medley relay. The score after the two medleys was seven to seven, and continued to stay close, although, PVP began pulling away from the tie during the 100 individual medleys and the freestyle events.

After the freestyle races, PVP held a hefty 90 points while rival LH bore only a few points greater than half that at 49. The gap continued to grow as the races continued; after the breaststroke events, the score was 147-81; after the backstroke events, it turned to 213-104; and following the butterfly events, the numbers ticked off at 274-131.

The final score read 281 PVP to 138 LH. The difference in score was mainly thanks to the 11-12 age group, who brought in an average of nearly 15 points per stroke.

The oldest age group, 15 years and older, brought in the lowest average of ten points per stroke. One of the reason behind this could be that the oldest age group just keeps getting older. Many swimmers who were categorized into the 15-and-older group last year are now over the age limit of 18.

Coaches Lindsay Gibbons and Jennifer and Alexandra Anello are recent examples. They were permitted to compete during their previous seasons, but once they blew out the candles on their 19th birthdays, they also watched their PVP racing careers snuff out.

Because they are so few teenagers left on the team, most had to double, triple and even quadruple up on events. Yet, many of the swimmers performed as if each race was the first of the night.

Sarah Valente, of the 15-and-older girls category, scored 24 points for the team, winning the girl's 15-and-older 50-meter freestyle and backstroke, and taking a leg in both the first-place girls 100-medley relay and girls step up 100-freestyle relay squads.

Aaron Schelmovitz, a swimmer in the boys 13-14 age group earned 13 points individually for claiming victory in both the 13-14 boys 50-meter backstroke and butterfly races as well as placing second in the boys 13-14 50-meter freestyle. "The meet was fun," swimmer Karli Ryan, 17 years old, said. "And everyone tried their hardest which resulted in a win for PVP."

The team showed impressive depth and determination in second-heat races, which do not count toward official scoring, but if they did, PVP would have earned another 76 points to Lake Hiawatha's 48.

The Piranhas' next opponent will be waiting at Burnham Park. During this heat wave of 90 to 100 degrees, the swimmers will be even more anxious to dive into the refreshing water; refuge from the sun's currently unforgiving rays.

"I hope we can maintain [last week's] stellar performance," said Joey Patchett, swimmer and assistant coach of the pre-team. Coaches and competitors alike will have to stay cool from the heat of the summer and the competition to continue with their own fiery operation in the coming weeks as they also take on Chester this Saturday, July 10.

Editor's Note: This article was submitted by guest contributor Rachel Conklin.