Swimming Tigers firing on all cylinders at Region Championship
The USN Swimming Tigers brought 25 qualifiers the 2014 MTHSSA Region Championship last Friday, a meet with 67 teams and over 700 swimmers competing. The boys team emerged with a fourth place finish, the highest boys team finish in school history. The combined team finished fifth overall, USN’s highest combined finish since 1997.
The USN Swimming Tigers brought 25 qualifiers the 2014 MTHSSA Region Championship last Friday, a meet with 67 teams and over 700 swimmers competing. The boys team emerged with a fourth place finish, the highest boys team finish in school history. The combined team finished fifth overall, USN’s highest combined finish since 1997. USN's girls finished 8th overall, their best finish in five years.
USN swimmers posted 38 seasonal best times at the Region meet, about 80% of our swims. 22 of our 25 swimmers had at least one seasonal best at the meet. We’re very pleased with these ratios -- they are reflective of the careful preparation that swimmers have invested over the past 20 weeks.
Besides earning lifetime best swims, one of our primary objectives at the Region meet was to qualify swimmers for State. Newcomers Rob Dobie and Marina Escalas helped us achieve this goal in dramatic fashion. Rob won his heat in the 50 freestyle, dropping 1.5 seconds. Rob entered the meet seeded 50th and dropped thirty-five places to finish 15th and earn his first State cut. Marina’s race in the 100 breaststroke was a similar story, as she dropped 3.5 seconds and improved from 21st to 14th. Both of these scoring swims were exactly the types of performances that allowed us to have a successful team finish.
Both the boys and girls teams benefitted from strong relays as well. USN placed five relays in the top 10. We were also the only boys team at the meet to place all three in the top 6, a factor that helped our final team finish significantly:
-The boys 200 medley relay (Kellon Patey, Nicholas Ng, Neil Zheng, Ben Tattersfield) was 4th.
-The girls 200 medley relay (Trudy Zou, Elena Escalas, Natalie TeSelle, Marina Escalas) finished 6th.
-The boys 200 freestyle relay (Mark Rusznak, Rob Dobie, Zheng, Tattersfield) finished 5th.
-The boys 400 freestyle relay (Rusznak, Dobie, Patey, Ng) finished 6th.
-The girls 400 freestyle relay (Zou, TeSelle, Julianna Lewis, E. Escalas) placed 10th.
Individually, Elena Escalas finished as the runner-up in both the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, both in strong in-season times. Natalie TeSelle scored in the 500 freestyle, and Marina scored in the 100 breast. Other girls' highlights included Julianna Lewis' lifetime best in the 100 freestyle, Natalie's 2.5 second drop in the 100 fly, and Trudy's 3 second drop in the 200 IM.
On the boys side, Mark Rusznak and Nicholas Ng each captured two top-8 finishes. Other individual scoring swims came from Ben Tattersfield, Neil Zheng, and Will Jones, with several more just outside the Top 16.
This marks the end of the season for about half the Region Team. We’re tremendously proud of how our swimmers have negotiated this challenging season without a pool to call home. Our seniors have led with creativity, patience, and willingness to invest extra time and effort towards our collective pursuit of excellence.
The State Team, twelve members strong, looks towards the TISCA State meet in two weeks, with our eyes on school records, Top 16 swims, and making USN’s mark in one of the most competitive state high school meets in the country.
Go Tigers!
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Athletes beyond Edgehill
Read MoreIt is common to have five or more University School of Nashville student-athletes sign college athletic commitment letters each year, and this year, USN saw eight more student-athletes commit to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. USN has several alumni participating in their chosen sport at the collegiate level from the Classes of 2021 through 2025. Continue reading to learn more about where Tigers are competing beyond Edgehill.
Contact
Edgehill Campus
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
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
USN Mission:
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.