Quantcast
Home | Back

Kissing sisters? Stow girls swimmers tie vs. Grizzlies

Share_email E-mail Story    |    Share_print Print Story    |    Comments    |   

February 7, 2010

by Jim Isabella

Correspondent

Who says a tie is not exciting?

If you doubt it, just ask the Stow-Munroe Falls girls swim team or anyone who witnessed meet Jan. 26 at home vs. Wadsworth.

Stow swim coach Athena Miller's sister, Kayla, is a member of the Wadsworth swim team.

As a result of the 88-88 tie, the true sister-kiss was accomplished.

The 200 medley relay was won by Wadsworth, but the Stow relay of senior Shelbey Mitchell, sophomores Jessie Lee, Megan Kolke, and Becca Kassinger powered to a second place finish in 2:01.04. Stow also finished in fourth and sixth place in the race.

Wadsworth's advantage was short-lived as junior Chelsea Simpson (2:11.15), senior Emily Bauman (2:23.92), and senior captain Lauren Stephenson (2:25.39) finished first, third, and fourth in the 200 yard freestyle race. Simpson's gritty performance was not to be denied as she refused to let the Grizzly swimmer catch her.

Wadsworth took the lead after the 200 individual medley, but breaking up the sweep was Jessie Lee who raced to a second place finish in 2:25.94. Haley Adkins and Kolke finished fifth and sixth.

Stow was not as fortunate in the 50 freestyle sprint as the Wadsworth team took the three top spots and Kassinger, freshman Rachael Moretti, and sophomore Clairissa Myatt had to settle for the remaining three positions.

It was critical that the seasoned star diver senior Mialy Wells to pick up six much-needed points by winning the diving competition. Mialy's performance was competed at the Kent swimming pool and the results were instrumental in the eventual outcome.

Shelbey Mitchell pulled off a narrow victory in the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:05.50. Her margin of victory was .19 seconds over her Wadsworth rival. Senior Kelly Palmer (1:16.86) and junior Kylee Stone (1:20.44) finished third and fourth for valuable points.

Every time that the Stow swimmers closed the gap in scoring, the Wadsworth team answered with another impressive race. The best Stow could accomplish in the 100 free was a third place finish by Kassinger in 1:01.90. She was followed by Moretti and Palmer in fourth and sixth places.

Another impressive swim by Simpson and Bauman, in the 500 freestyle, left Wadsworth in their wake with Simpson's winning time of 5:46.92. Bauman finished in 6:24.04, in second place. Amanda Mitchell finished sixth in the race.

The Stow team refused to give up. Relay teams in the 200 freestyle relay finished second and third. Stephenson, Simpson, Kolke, and Lee timed out at 1:54.54, and Adkins, Bauman, Palmer, and Myatt raced to 2:01.83.

The drama built up and every race took on more importance.

In the 100 backstroke, Shelbey Mitchell showed her mastery in a first-place time of 1:02.46. Kolke and Myatt finished fourth and fifth. The 100 breaststroke was captured by Wadsworth, but Lee (1:15.61), Adkins (1:18.35), and Stephenson (1:26.17) held up their end of the bargain by taking second, third, and fifth to keep the scoring close.

It all came down to the 400 free relay.

With the Stow swimmers slightly behind in the meet, Simpson, Adkins, Kassinger, and Shelbey Mitchell finished in first place. Stone, junior Libby Einsporn, sophomore Colleeen Reed, and Bauman finished third. The combined points were enough to tie-up Wadsworth.

The swimmers are now in preparation for the post season, hoping for the chance to reach the state championship meet in Canton.

It begins with the sectional meet on Feb. 13, at the Ocasek Natatorium on the campus of the University of Akron.

E-mail: stowsports@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3113




Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Stowsentry.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Login above or Register to comment.
 0 Total Comments Home | Back