White Caps win big
Published 12:08 pm Wednesday, July 23, 2014
WASHINGTON — At nearly full strength, the Washington White Caps ended their two-meet losing streak Tuesday with a 738.5-604.5 victory over the Greenville Recreation & Parks YellowFins.
Coming off a competitive 726-665 loss to Tarboro, head coach Spenser Pake and his team bounced back with a collection quality individual performances. With storms in the forecast, the meet kicked off 15 minutes before the typical 6 p.m. start time.
Unlike last week’s meet, Washington’s young swimmers got off to a great start in the freestyle relays. On a meet-opening photo finish, Sawyer Vosburgh, Elli Pake, Lily Holloman and Anna Gray Dail won the 6U 100-yard free with a time of 2:08.40, edging Greenville by a second. Following suit, Washington’s 10U and 12U 200-yard free teams went on to win by less than two seconds, respectively.
In the older divisions, Amanda Manning, Caroline Manning, Tianna Van Cura and Gina Delmonte built up even more momentum with a commanding 2:17.32 finish in the 200-yard free, while Pam Pack standout Kevin Andrews, Tony Lovenberg, Reiner Daw and Leland Hill notched a time of 1:47.84.
Individually, Mary Scott Sheppard has racked up the wins in the 9 and 10-year-old age group throughout the season. On Tuesday, she picked up another win in the 100-yard individual medley with a 1:29.84 mark. In their respective age groups, Campbell Barnes, Dariah Cole, Amanda Manning, Carter Barnes (by just .06 of a second), Kaitlyn Richards and Eric Lovenberg all picked up top finishes.
Looking up at a substantial point deficit, Greenville gained speed in the 25- and 50-yard freestyle and backstroke races with 10 wins, despite Andrews and Tony Lovenberg winning their races with impressive marks.
In the 50-yard breast, Sheppard, Barnes, Patrick Lovenberg, Van Cura, Justin Clark, Caitlyn Andrews and Eric Lovenberg all won their age groups.
One of the more entertaining races on the day occurred in the boys 11- and 12-year old fly, as Patrick Lovenberg won by a fraction of a second over Greenville’s Max Gibbs with a time of 35.35. Barnes, Cole, Amanda Manning, AJ Howard, Richards and Kevin Andrews all picked up wins for Washington in the 50-yard fly.
The White Caps’ success in the relay continued, winning four of the last five races to close the meet.
With the win, coach Pake’s team improves to 4-2 on the Greenville Area Summer Swim League season. The White Caps will face the Cherry Oaks Torpedos to close out the regular season.