It was only their 10th time in the water, and Redhawks Coaches Peter Braden and Shannon Minnihan were pretty pleased with the team’s swims.
The Port Townsend Redhawks girls swim team had …
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It was only their 10th time in the water, and Redhawks Coaches Peter Braden and Shannon Minnihan were pretty pleased with the team’s swims.
The Port Townsend Redhawks girls swim team had their first virtual meet last week, having missed their first opportunity due to snow the previous Saturday.
Wanting to provide some close swims, the coaches set up the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relays hoping for tight races and they got their wish.
The B Relay team of Olivia Schmidtt (senior), Mary D’Arcy (senior), Lizzy Krajewski (sophomore) and Emma McAdam (junior) just touched out the A Relay foursome of Jenna Hiegel (senior), Melody Douglas (sophomore), Adeline Gellert-DePalma (sophomore) and Gillian McCracken (sophomore) by less than half a second; 3:00.09 to 3:00.53.
The 400 freestyle relay was not quite as close but still exciting with the A Relay of Gellert-DePalma, Leona Lee (sophomore), Hiegel, and D’Arcy beating the B Relay of Magdaline Ferland (sophomore), Krajewski, Schmidtt, and Douglass 5:28.27 to 5:30.35.
Coach Braden pointed out that seniors Hiegel and D’Arcy had returned to swimming after a two- and three-year hiatus, respectfully.
Hiegel swam a personal best and top time overall in her 100 backstroke (1:24.82) and D’Arcy swam the top times in the 100 butterfly 1:18.61 and 100 breaststroke 1:26.81.
Braden also noted most of the team had not been swimming since mid-November 2019 so there were some understandable jitters.
Chloe Lampert (sophomore) rose to the occasion, swimming a personal best 100 backstroke of 1:48.60 after the meet was completed.
The team had extra time in their two-hour allotment and took advantage of it with some time trials.
A huge highlight was swimming in a 25-yard pool and especially in the newly remodeled William Shore Pool in Port Angeles.
“This is amazing!” and “We need this in Port Townsend!” was repeated by many swimmers.
There were a few swimmers unable to attend the meet and Braden and Minnihan look forward to a full team competing soon.
The team will continue to practice at Mountain View Pool, Monday through Friday, and swim their virtual meets on Saturday at William Shore Pool.
The team again expressed its gratitude to the city of Port Townsend for working hard to open the pool for the team as it is not yet open to the public. The school district provides its own guards and insurance and has a history of partnering with the city and the pool.
