Swimming Tigers race at State Championship
Ian Brash '20 breaks school record in the 50 freestyle
Twelve members of the USN HS swimming team returned to Centennial Sportsplex last week to compete at the TISCA State swimming championship, which was held on Friday and Saturday, February 8-9.
Friday morning began with the 200 medley relays. The girls’ team of Lucy Mauries, Annie French, Mia Pretorius, and Lauren French kicked things off with a four second drop,. The boys’ relay (Stefan Pretorius, Elliott Clark, Sage Sasaki, and Ian Brash) followed suit with a season-best performance of their own. Their time of 1:43.69 finished just shy of the top 16 and qualifying for the evening finals.
Having sat out the medley relay, Abby Liff did not squander her first race of the meet, dropping two seconds in her 200 IM and moving up to 6th on the all-time Top 10 list. Sage returned shortly afterwards in the same event and had a tremendous swim, dropping from 2:08 to 2:03 and earning a spot as second alternate, finishing 18th and moving up to second on the all-time Top 10 list behind Matt West '97. Mia Pretorius also swam a lifetime best in the 100 butterfly in Friday's prelims.
On Saturday, the morning began with the 100 freestyle. Freshman William Grobmyer kicked off the session with a lifetime best, and Ian Brash followed suit a few heats later. In the 500 freestyle, Annie French had a gutsy swim, equaling her lifetime best of 5:51.3.
The 200 freestyle relays were, on paper, our best chances of the day to score, and we played the best hands we could in those events.
The boys (Ian, William, Sage, Stefan Pretorius) swam first and improved from 32nd to 19th, winning their heat and finishing about 9/10ths of a second outside of the top 16. Their time of 1:32.76 was a four second drop off their previous season best, and good enough for fourth on the USN all-time Top 10 list, but not quite fast enough to swim at night.
The girls team (Kursten Griffin, Lucy, Mia, Abby) also ended up as an alternate. Although they had four strong splits and swam a season best by over two seconds, they finished 7/10ths shy of qualifying for finals. Their time of 1:44.40, however, was good enough for fourth on the USN all-time top 10 list, and the fastest USN time swum since 1999.
In the final two individual events, USN swimmers had a host of best times. Stefan sliced two seconds off his lifetime best in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 57.9 shortly after anchoring the 200 freestyle relay. William, Elliott, and Sage all had big drops in the 100 breaststroke, with William cutting two seconds (1:07.1) and Elliott and Sage both breaking the 1:05 barrier. Annie and Abby both had strong 100 breaststrokes as well.
The girls’ 400 freestyle relay was a final highlight of the session – Lucy, Lauren, Abby, and Kursten broke the 4:00 barrier, finishing in 3:56. An unfortunate disqualification prevented their time from earning a spot on the USN all-time Top 10 list. On the bright side, however, all four girls return next year, and this will be a good motivator for 2020!
USN swimmers finished the state meet with 11 individual lifetime best swims, 5 season-best relay performances, 15 swims on the all-time Top 10 list, and a wonderful focus and effort throughout. On the whole, this was the most consistently strong state meet we have had in four years, with nearly every swimmer contributing at least one lifetime best. Thank you to our swimmers, parents, and our wonderful cheering section for their support and encouragement all weekend, and all season long!
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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
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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.