Bomber Swim and Dive Continues to Dominate - By Amber Settle
Richland's swim and dive team came off a great win from the Mid-Columbia Invite last week. A competition Richland hasn't won in years. The high emotions from that meet led into this home meet against Kamiakin and Southridge. Coming into this meet, I knew nothing about swim and dive. It was a fun and entirely new experience for me. The atmosphere was definitely something spectacular, "We have an awesome group this year. The sportsmanship is incredible," says first-year assistant coach Natilee Ruiz.
The MCC meet was a 12-event meet with three teams. For diving, this was a six-dive meet. Before the meet began, new Assistant Coach Kirah Monks talked about the win last week, "We didn't see it 100% coming, we were doing well, but it wasn't first place all the time." Richland has two new assistant coaches, thirty-two girls on the swim team and four girls on the dive team. All three swimming coaches have had a long history in this sport, including competing for D1 colleges. "Literally the best (coaches) we have ever had. We seriously don't think we would be this prepared for our meets if we didn't have them. They have so much knowledge and information," Senior team captain Anna Brehm commented about the new coaches. Even with such a large group of swimmers, the bond between these girls is incredible. Although some athletes were sick and unable to participate at this particular meet, Brehm says the team is close, "Everyone is more like a team than ever before. It feels really great to be a part of that."
Swimming is scored similarly to track and field. Only the top three score and everyone else swims as an exhibition. Richland has an A, B, and C team, with A being the fastest, B being the second fastest, and C being the third fastest. Diving is scored out of ten possible points, and the D.D. (dive difficulty) plays a large role in scoring. The dive is graded based on take-off from the board and position in the flip.
Event one: the 200-yard Medley relay. The order of the Medley is backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. Four people make up one relay team, and 50 yards is down and back in the pool. Richland's A team earned second place in event one with a time of 2:12.58. Anna Brehm was the starter, followed by Madalynn Norris, Emma Greco, and Kaitlyn Prigge with the closing leg. B team, Isabelle Vetter, Katriel Nyman, Karrin Wierzchowski, and Dylan Morris respectively, got sixth place with a time of 2:36.68.
Event two: 200-yard freestyle. Richland dominated this even with two fast times for first and second place. Junior Malia Ciolli won with a time of 2:08.02 followed by Junior teammate and Captain Darrah Lerch in second place with a time of 2:11.86. Myah Genetti also earned eighth place with a time of 2:40.75.
Event three: 200-yard IM (Individual Medley). This event is a combination of four swim styles: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. Richland had several girls do well in this event. With a time of 2:33.21 Emma Greco earned second place. Third place was Freshman Madalynn Norris with 2:38.48. Kristyna Matyas finished with a time of 2:50.08 and earned fourth place.
Event four: 50-yard freestyle. This is considered the 'sprint' race of swimming and many girls did well for Richland. With a time of 26.12 was senior Giulia Squeri, which earned her second place. Earning fourth place was sophomore Rylee Morris with a time of 29.22. Junior Dylan Morris came in seventh place with a time of 31.74.
Event five: first dive. The girls get their first opportunity to dive at this point in the meet, and Richland had a star at the top of the podium. Junior Isabella Zumini earned first place with a final score of 191.55. This was an excellent score for her as she was a 28-point difference between her and second place. Zumini's first dive was 401 B Inward with a D.D of 1.5, her scores were 5 ½, 4 ½, and 4 ½. Her second dive was 202 A Back with a D.D of 1.7, final scores were 4 ½, 4 ½, 5 ½. Isabella's third dive was 5223 D the D.D was 2.3 (backwards flip with 1 ½ twists) her scores were 5 ½, 5, and 5 ½. Fourth dive was 302 C Reverse D.D was 1.6, Her scores were 4 ½. 5 ½ , and 5 ½ . Her fifth dive was 5124 D Forward (forward flip with 2 twists) D.D was 2.3, scores were 5 ½, 6, 6. Isabella's last dive was 104 C forward (two forward flips) her D.D was 2.2, her last scores were 6 ½, 6, and 6 ½.
Event six: 100-yard butterfly. Known as Michael Phelps best event, the butterfly is where many underclassmen did well for Richland. Freshman Greco came in second with a time of 1:12.04. Vetter, a sophomore, had placed fourth with her time being 1:15.84.
Event seven: 100-yard freestyle. Richland did well at the top of the podium in this event. Squeri came in first, with her time being 58.89. Lerch came in second with a time of 1:00.40. Prigge, a sophomore, came in fourth place, and her time was 1:07.05.
Event eight: 500-yard freestyle. This is the furthest race of the day and it takes hard work and concentration. Luckily, Richland has a team that is full of both. Ciolli came in third place, and her time was 5:55.57. Karrin Wierzchowski, a Junior, came off of being sick before the meet. She barely missed the district time for this event. However, she dropped a full minute compared to last year. Wierzchowski came in fourth place, with her time being 7:21.36.
Event nine: 200-yard freestyle relay. This is an action-packed race where speed meets multiple styles. Our 'A team' (Squeri, Brehm, Lerch, Ciolli) came in second, with their time being 1:52.03. The 'B team' (Matyas, Morris, Genetti, Dylan Morris) came in third, only 12 seconds behind their teammates.
Event 10: 100-yard backstroke. Richland had two girls do well in this event. With a time of 1:15.65, Prigge earned second place. Brehm has just recently begun competing in the backstroke. She came in third place and her time was 1:17.62.
Event 11: 100-yard breaststroke. Richland took the top spot in this event. Norris was the winner with a time of 1:22.40. Freshman Matyas came in fifth place at 1:27.89, and Katriel Nyman, a junior, came in ninth place at 1:42.72.
Event 12: 400-yard freestyle relay. Again this is a highly anticipated event where four girls give it their all for their team. Richland's 'A team' (Squeri, Greco, Lerch, Ciolli) came in first place with their final time being 4:07.00. Richland's 'B team' (Norris, R. Morris, Matyas, Prigge) came in second place and their final time at 4:23.58.
It was amazing watching the team cheer each other on in this event. The sportsmanship radiated throughout the entire meet. Richland ended up beating Kamiakin, Hermiston, and Cheney. "Next week, we are going to focus on being healthy, so we are ready to race Walla Walla on Saturday," said head coach Weinman. Many girls on the team had stepped up due to their teammates not feeling well. Richland is excited to compete against a powerful Walla Walla team next weekend. The girls and coaches are excited to see what else this season will bring.
