Time drops, Girls' team finish highlight Region Swim Meet
The USN swimming team brought 19 swimmers to the MTHSSA Regional meet on Friday, January 28. It was the high school team's biggest championship-style meet in two years, and the Tigers came with a lot of energy and focus. For some swimmers, this represented the culminating meet of the season. For others, it was a final tuneup for the state meet still to come.
With over 80 teams competing, our girls team earned a 5th place overall finish, just two points ahead of Franklin High School. This represented USN's top-5 finish since 2014, and it's the first USN girls' team top 5 finish since 1997.
An event-by-event recap is below:
The girls' 200 medley relay team (Olivia Barbieri, Anna Hulan, Kara Grace Hess, Caroline Cramer) improved on their seed from 11th to 8th, taking a really good swing at the 1995 school record and coming just 0.2 seconds short. The boys' 200 medley relay team (Daniel Stark, WIlliam Grobmyer, Arnav Reddy, Owen Block) battled to win their heat, even with Daniel playing an unexpected backstroker role, scoring some valuable points in the process and finishing 14th.
In the 200 freestyles, Jack Wellons and Henry Gatto each dropped 4 seconds off their lifetime bests, with Jack winning his heat. Dhruv Reddy added a lifetime best here as well.
The 200 IM was one of our most anticipated events, with 2 girls seeded in the top 8. Anna Hulan took second overall and nearly won, and Olivia Schwarz took fourth in a lifetime best swim. In the boys' pool, Jacob Rothman dropped 4 seconds to earn his first individual state cut.
The 50 freestyles were highlighted by Kara Grace Hess, who finished 7th in a lifetime best after being seeded 17th. Emma Schwarz won her heat and dropped half a second, and Ivy Cochran dropped a full second from her season best. USN boys were 4/4 on best times in that event as well, with William Grobmyer leading the way. Mark Luschen had a big drop to narrowly miss the state cut here, and Sawyer Beckwith and Jack Wellons both dropped time as well.
The 100 butterfly broke our best time streak, but we had some great swims from Olivia Schwarz (who improved from 15th to 10th in the 100 fly) and Arnav Reddy, who dropped 2 seconds. Kara Grace and Ray Nakagawa both had some goggle/water swallowing malfunctions and struggled a bit here. But technical mistakes are not indictments on training, so onward...
Anna Hulan's 100 free led the way, finishing 4th to score some major points in a bit of an unexpected spot. Ivy Cochran swam a hard-fought season best by 3 seconds to win her heat, and Caroline Cramer was just off her lifetime best. In the boys' side, Owen Block, Daniel Stark, Dhruv Reddy, and Henry Gatto all chipped off their lifetime bests, while Mark Luschen and Sawyer Beckwith's Hail Mary cracks at the 50 free state cut didn't pay off.
Our lone 500 freestyle, Emma, got it done in style, dropping another 12 seconds off her best time set last week to squeeze under the state cut.
In the 200 freestyle relays, our girls' team (Olivia S., Olivia B., Caroline, Kara Grace) improved from 8th to 4th. The boys' team (Mark, Owen, Sawyer, William) took 10th after being seeded 14th. The girls' and boys' B relays also had good swims across the board.
Olivia Barbieri and Ray had strong 100 backstrokes shortly after the relay. Ray earned a heat winner and a best time by 3 seconds, and Olivia swam just off her best and scored big points, finishing 11th.
Shortly afterwards, Daniel and Jacob were our only breaststrokers and each came up with best times.
Our' 400 freestyle relays closed the day out in style. The boys' team improved from 15th to 10th; Wililiam's anchor split (50.2) was the standout leg. Our girls' team battled in the final heat in a big way, improving from 7th to 4th. Olivia Schwarz (55.10) and Anna Hulan (53.3) were especially strong at the end of a long day.
Moving forward, we'll head to the State meet in two weeks with 10 individual qualifiers and 2 relay-only swimmers.
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Edgehill Campus
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Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.