Sherando sweeps district swim competition

By Jerry Holsworth - sports@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Sherando swept Thursday's Northwestern District Swim Meet, but -- at least in the girls competition -- the Warriors' dual victory was in doubt until the final race at Jim Barnett Park's indoor pool.

Millbrook's girls held a razor-thin 120-119 lead over Sherando heading into the 400-meter freestyle relay, but the Warriors cruised to a first-place finish in the event and took the district title 137-132 over the Pioneers. Handley was third with 101 points and James Wood finished with 88 points in the girls competition.

Despite the loss, Millbrook coach Eileen Span was anything but down over the outcome.

"I'm really not disappointed at all," Span said. "Our swimmers gave everything they had tonight. This program has come a long way to be able to compete with a team like Sherando and I couldn't be prouder of the way they performed."

Although the Warriors had to fight off a determined Handley team in the boys competition all night, Sherando staged a stunning victory over the Judges in the 200 free relay to take control of the meet.

"Our depth had a lot to do with this," Warriors coach Joe Knight said. "But I think the meet came down to the 200 free relay. We came into the meet seeded third in the event and won it. That probably settled who was going to end up on top tonight."

The Warriors defeated Handley 139-134 in the boys competition. Millbrook was third with 111 points and James Wood had 74 for the night.

Besides the 200 free relay, Sherando's boys took first place in the 200 medley relay, 200 free and the 100 fly. The Judges won four events in the boys competition, taking firsts in the 200 individual medley, 50 free, 100 breast and the 400 free relay.

Peter Restrepo led the Warriors with wins in the 200 free (2 minutes, 14.17 seconds) and the 100 butterfly (1:03.93).

Handley's Ben Grove was a multiple winner for the Judges, winning the 200 IM (2:16.87) and the 100 breast (1:08.29).

"I thought we did really well tonight," Handley coach Tag Grove said. "We've lost a lot of key swimmers over the last two years, but I thought both of our teams put a lot into this. We're looking towards regionals and state now, to see if we can finish the season ahead of the rest of the district in those meets."

Millbrook's boys won the 400 free and the Colonels' boys took the 50 free and 100 free.

Sherando's girls won the 200 IM, 100 free and the 400 free relay in the first-place finish. Millbrook's second-place finish was even more impressive since the Pioneers only finished first in the girls' 200 medley relay.

The Handley girls won the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay and the 100 breast.

The Judges were led by Hatie Schiavone, who won the 50 free (29.37), and the 100 free (1:03.07).

Despite finishing last in both the boys and girls competitions, the Colonels got their share of first-place finishes, winning the girls 200 free, 400 free and the 100 breast. The boys won the 50 and 100 free.

Emily Firestein won the 200 free (2:20.63) and the 400 free (4:49.25) for James Wood, and the Colonels' Kevin Carver was first in the 50 free (25.66) and the 100 free (56.54).

"We understood coming into the meet that we had too much to overcome to be a factor in the team competition," Colonels coach Mark Pennypacker said. "We're the smallest team in the district. But we won three first-place finishes in the girls competition and one in the boys, so we had our share of success tonight."