Friday, November 6, 2009

MIAMI -- The water from the pool wasn't the only H2O that the Key West and Coral Shores High swim teams were forced to deal with Thursday at the Region 4-1A championship meet at Nova Southeastern University.

The swimmers were forced to wait out a lengthy rain delay and some equipment malfunctions to add to an already long day, but the wait may have been well worth it for some.

The Coral Shores 200-yard freestyle relay team of Daniel Michael, Arlo Simonds, Davis Zethki and Ray Vaughn finished seventh overall and may advance to the state finals Nov. 14 depending on how teams from the other three regions finished.

"Typically we're the fastest region, but we've got to cross our fingers and wait," said Hurricanes coach Jon Olsen, who said he will likely find out today or Saturday.

A pair of Coral Shores divers are in the same boat. Meghan Miller, who placed sixth, and Taylor Anderson, who finished seventh, will also have to wait to find out if they advanced.

Also for the 'Canes, Matt Herum finished ninth in the 100 breaststroke and A.J. Hamer was 14th in the 200 individual medley.

The Coral Shores girls 200 medley relay team of Taelor Cuppett, Sarah Blackwell, Katie Fry and Dannon Magrane finished 11th, while the 200 free relay team of Michaela Walters, Magrane, Raisa Santiesteban and Blackwell placed 10th. The boys team of Luis Santiesteban, Hamer, Herum and Vaughn finished 10th.

"Most of our swimmers and relays bettered their times, so we were really happy with that," Olsen said. "We're sad to see some of our seniors go, but that's the way it goes."

For Key West, no one advanced to the state finals, but several swimmers achieved personal bests.

Max Kohler, the lone Conch to make it in an individual event, placed 24th overall in the 500-yard freestyle, but swam to a personal best time of 5:53 in the event.

The boys 200 freestyle relay team of Nicolas Palay, Lucas Mongelli, A.J. Hally and Brandon Cyr finished 13th overall after also placing 13th in the preliminaries. Their best time was 1:39.83. The boys 400 freestyle relay team of Clay Wagner, Scott Buchman, Cyr and Kohler finished 14th in preliminaries and 12th in the finals. Their best time, which came in prelims, was 3:48.04. They swam a 3:49.67 in the finals.

Cyr and Wagner achieved personal bests on their legs of the relay.

On the girls' side, the Key West team of Allesandra Hally, Emily Hepworth, Orla Winner and Effie Ford finished 13th in the 200 freestyle relay after also finishing 13th in prelims. Their best time was 1:51.93.

"We ended the season on a great note," Conchs coach Lori Bosco said. "All of their performances were really good today."