Panther swimmers close with personal bests

Posted 3/11/10

Still, their seventh place finish was satisfying, since they went into the meet with only one team member, senior Devin Lynn, ranked in the top 12 in the state, and Lynn said the team did better than expected.

“We worked hard over the …

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Panther swimmers close with personal bests

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It was a season of personal improvement for the Powell Panther swimmers this year, and they finished by swimming their best times of the season at the state swim meet.With only nine swimmers, only one of whom was ranked in the top 12 going into the state competition, the team nearly made the top six when the final team scores were calculated.

Still, their seventh place finish was satisfying, since they went into the meet with only one team member, senior Devin Lynn, ranked in the top 12 in the state, and Lynn said the team did better than expected.

“We worked hard over the season,” Lynn said, “It was nice to see it pay off in the end.”

Coach Jerry Rodriguez echoed Lynn's assessment.

“The guys really did step up to the challenge, with nearly all of them swimming lifetime-best times at state,” said Rodriguez.

Lynn was the team's highest scorer at state, swimming his career-best times to sixth-place finishes in both of his individual events, the breaststroke and the individual medley, and fellow senior Trent Eckerdt closed his career by swimming his lifetime best in the consolation rounds.

Several other swimmers made notable cuts during the state meet. Junior Billy Cummings, who concentrated on swimming this season after competing primarily as a diver in previous seasons, swam personal bests in his events, placing in the top 12 twice, and moving up one place in the consolation finals. Senior Tim Izell also swam his fastest time of the year in the 100-yard freestyle and set another personal best in the 50 freestyle when he led off the 200 freestyle relay.

The biggest cut at state was turned in by Jared LaPierre, who improved by 13 seconds in the 500 freestyle. His faster time in the finals enabled him to jump two places in the final standings. He finished the preliminaries in 11th place, but improved to ninth in the finals.

LaPierre also got a break during the meet, as did teammate Kyle Anderson, after each finished 13th in an event.

Another swimmer withdrew from the consolation finals, allowing LaPierre to move into the 12th spot in the 200 freestyle consolation finals and Anderson to join him in the 500 freestyle consolation finals. Anderson moved up further in the event with a time fast enough to finish 11th in the event. Diver Cole Good finished seventh in the meet, but Rodriguez said he had dived well and “flirted with sixth place in the early rounds.”

Junior Danny McKearney made big cut in his debut at the state meet, as well. McKearney, who came out for swimming for the first time this year, cut eight seconds from his time in the 500 and four in the 200. Although McKearney did not place in either event, Rodriguez said it was notable that McKearney, who had never swum competitively before, qualified for three state events with only nine weeks of training.

Andre Miasso did not reach the top 12 in either of his events, but Rodriguez said the Brazilian exchange student had made exceptional progress during his first year of competition.

Though they didn't qualify for state, swimmers Ric Nisely, Sam Kuntz and Brennan Althoff all improved throughout the season as well.

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