 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
August 11, 2005
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
August 11, 2005 |
|||||
 |
|
sports
Sea Dogs swim to 4th place The Sea Dogs ended their season with a splash, placing fourth at the Miami Valley Swimming Association Championships at Wittenberg University on July 23. The girls ended the day with 156 points, while the boys racked up 190 for a team total of 346 points. Coach Dave Wishart said that the team’s finish matches the Sea Dogs’ best performance at past championships. Coach Abby Guiler was very happy with the team’s season. “We had a very high number of swimmers this year, which is always good to see — quite a few returning athletes as well as several who had never before swum competitively,” she said. “I think our goal to have everyone enjoy themselves was accomplished, and having great individual performances as well as tying our best-ever overall league finish as a team were definitely exciting bonuses.” The all-day event (warm-ups began at 7 a.m. and the last freestyle relay finished over 12 hours later) featured 604 swimmers from nine teams. The area the association serves is large, stretching from Huber Heights to Waynesville, and only the top swimmers from each team placed in the individual races. Swimmers who were not likely to place knew that their contribution in the relays was vital. Of the Sea Dogs’ 346 points, 158 came from relays. Temperatures inside the natatorium soared into the 90s, with humidity to match. The noise level was deafening during the final relays — the encouraging shrieks crescendoed with each swimmer, dying off with the winners’ first touch but ringing in the spectators’ ears for hours afterwards. The day was soaked in drama. Imagine the look of terror on the face of a tiny 7-year old girl who has just been told that she needs to swim with the 9- and 10-year-old relay team because an older girl didn’t show up. Imagine the disappointment of four 9- and 10-year-old boys who didn’t get to swim their relay because of a computer error. Imagine knowing you’re the slowest member of your relay team and swimming beyond yourself so you don’t lose time. Imagine a 17-year-old boy swaying on the block, nauseated from heat exhaustion but choosing to swim because his relay team needed him. Imagine that team winning its relay. Imagine tear-stained faces. Imagine high fives and wet hugs. The results of the girls events: 9–10: Megan Carlson, 1st, 50 free, 25 butterfly, 100 individual medley; Rachele Orme, 6th, 25 fly, 25 breaststroke; Carlson, Mary Lewis, Orme, Erin Grote, 4th, 100 medley relay, 100 free relay. 11–12: Elizabeth Malone, 3rd, 50 fly, 5th, 50 back, 100 IM; Marlee Layh, 6th, 50 free, 8th, 50 back; Malone, Layh, Kacie Miller, Jade Turner, 5th, 200 medley relay; Malone, Layh, Miller, Anne Weigand, 4th, 200 free relay. 13–14: Meghan Meyer, Barbara Jewell, Kasey Koehler, Jenny Barnett, 8th, 200 free relay. 15–18: Jenny Riehle, 3rd, 100 free, 50 fly, 8th, 100 IM; Lasena Badger, 4th, 50 free, 6th, 100 free; Bethany Traeger, 6th, 50 breaststroke; Sarah Brown, 8th, 50 back; Riehle, Badger, Traeger, Brown, 3rd, 200 medley relay, Riehle, Badger, Brown, Sanders, 3rd, 200 free relay. The results of the boys events: 8 and under: Fielding Lewis, 3rd, 25 back, 8th, 25 breaststroke; Theron Orme, 4th, 25 fly, freestyle; Aman Ngqakayi, 4th, 25 breaststroke; Brennan Miller, 8th, 25 fly; Orme, Lewis, Miller, Ngqakayi, 2nd, 100 medley relay, 100 free relay; Liam Weigand, Ian Chick, Sam Holman-Smith, Jason Brown, 6th, 100 free relay. 9–10: Chris Brown, 6th, 50 free; Eli Biggs, 6th, 25 back; Brown, Eli Seitz, Biggs, Taylor Ford, 6th, 100 medley relay, 7th, 100 free relay. 11–12: Sam Lovering, 2nd, 50 breaststroke, 4th, 50 fly, 7th, 100 IM; Roy Barnett, 4th, 50 back; Lovering, Jewell, Barnett, Salazar, 4th, 200 medley relay; Lovering, Jewell, Barnett, Reichert, 5th, 200 free relay. 15–18: Andy Johnson, 1st, 100 free, 50 breaststroke, 50 free; Dan Gummel, 4th, 50 free, 6th, 100 free; Kelby Dierking, 8th, 50 fly; Johnson, Gummel, Jake Wishart, Dierking, 2nd, 200 medley relay; Johnson Gummel, Dierking, Will McCuddy, 1st, 200 free relay. New gym bleachers to give YSHS fans reason to cheer Those who attend concerts or basketball or volleyball games at the Yellow Springs High School gym this year will sit on bleachers, which, compared to the school’s old bleachers, are safer, more accessible to the disabled, easier to clean and more aesthetically pleasing, said YSHS Principal John Gudgel. “There are a number of features I’m pleased with,” Gudgel said on Monday. The plastic bleachers, which are being installed this week, replace the school’s old wooden bleachers, which were constructed when the high school was built in 1964. The new bleachers will be the school’s most obvious physical change when students arrive for their first day of classes on Wednesday, Aug. 24, Gudgel said. Because the new bleachers, which are blue in support of the school colors, are constructed from forgiving plastic rather than rigid wood, they may also provide a more comfortable sitting experience, said Gudgel. However, he refrained from offering a testimony for plastic, saying that after sitting on a hard surface for several hours, Yellow Springers might not notice a significant difference between the two materials. Farnham Company of Westerville, the lowest bidder on the project, is installing the bleachers for $53,530, said Superintendent Tony Armocida. The Farnham Company also worked with the school district when it constructed the new science laboratory furniture during the school’s major renovation project earlier this decade. “They do quality work,” Armocida said. The new bleachers meet current federal accessibility standards, contain handrails and will offer an immediate advantage to those who are disabled or who ride in wheelchairs, Armocida said. Craig Conrad, the district’s maintenance supervisor, said the new bleachers will also be much easier to clean, since they are enclosed and therefore will capture spilled and dropped food items, so that maintenance workers will no longer have to sweep beneath the bleachers after a game. And because the bleachers no longer have openings between rows, people don’t need to worry about falling, he said. The new bleachers will also provide a small increase in floor space in the gym and free up the walking area along the side of the floor, since the number of seats is slightly fewer, Armocida said. And because the new bleachers will open and close automatically rather than manually, they will be less likely to be damaged, Conrad said. According to Conrad, the bleacher assembly will be completed within a week. Earlier this summer, several local residents volunteered to disassemble the old bleachers and keep the wood for recycling, Armocida said. To compliment the new bleachers, the district varnished the floor and painted the walls of the gym this summer. Golf team to open fall sports season The Yellow Springs High School golf team will be the first YSHS team to play this fall when the Bulldogs play in a quad match at Jefferson on Monday, Aug. 15, at 4:30 p.m. The golf team will also play Wednesday, Aug. 17, at Cedarville, and Thursday, Aug. 18, at Ridgeville Christian. Both matches start at 4:30 p.m. Boys soccer scrimmages The YSHS boys soccer team will warm up for the fall season with several scrimmages. The varsity team will host Newton on Friday, Aug. 12, at 6 p.m. The junior varsity and varsity teams will travel to Graham High School on Tuesday Aug. 16. The JV plays at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7. Both teams host Northwestern on Thursday, Aug. 18. The JV plays at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7:30. Annual YSHS Alumni Soccer Games The annual YSHS Alumni Soccer Games will be played at the high school on Saturday, Aug. 20. The girls play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys at 7:30 p.m. Any YSHS alumni who played soccer for YSHS while a student may participate. Alumni are asked to wear dark blue, and may call Bill or Lynn Hardman at 767-8433 for more information. Football team to scrimmage The YSHS football team will travel to Woodward for a scrimmage on Tuesday, Aug. 16. The time of the game will be determined. The complete 2005 fall sports schedule was not available this week, but will be published in the Aug. 18 News.
|
|
