5 zone qualifying marks highlight local Freedlander showing

brian questel
July 13, 2011
273

071811 freedlander swim Promo: Great weather, atmosphere lead to another great Freedlander Swim Meet 5 zone qualifying marks highlight local Freedlander showing By Brian Questel Wooster Parks and Recreation coach Larry Smucker finally breathed a sigh of relief Sunday evening. All the work and preparation was finally over, and the 43rd Freedlander Swim Meet was in the bag. Practice was less than 12 hours away, but by the time the final event and point 7,009 had been recorded by the end of the day July 10, Smucker was both relieved and pleased. We had a lot of great swims, said Smucker. Fiona and Sophia Davis made the qualifying times to go to zones in Indianapolis the first week of August and we had a lot of great swims. Eddie Rooney, Nathanial Cornelius and Leah Sanchez were three who did really well it was a great weekend. We had a tremendous number of time improvements, and Ive got to give (College of Wooster coach) Rob (Harrington) and (Wooster High girls coach) Chris (Matthew a lot of credit for that. The weather held up and it was a great atmosphere. Overall it went pretty well, said Smucker. We ended up with around 800 kids. It was a great meet and it worked out extremely well. That was especially the case for five local swimmers who ended up beating their zone qualifying times. Sisters Fiona and Sophia Davis from the Wooster Parks and Rec team both qualified for zones in Indianapolis, Ind., in early August, while Jessica Bonezzi – swimming unattached for the Y of Wooster – met a trio of qualifying zone marks. Madison Whitman, also swimming unattached, qualified with a win in the 100 breaststroke, while Wooster High grad Alex McCord, who is currently swimming for Ohio State, also topped the qualifying mark in the 50 free. Both of the Davis sisters qualified in the 50-meter breaststroke. Sophia broke a team record with her first-place finish of 37.62. She was especially pleased because I was seeded third and got first. That was big time drop for me, said Sophia, who had a big day, as she was second in the 200 free by slashing six seconds off her personal best. She also placed in the top-10 with a fourth in 100 breast, seventh in the 100 free with a 2-second time drop, third in the 50 free with her fastest time ever and then swam a leg on the eighth-place 200-meter free relay. I had no idea what the 50 breaststroke record was, said Sophia, who missed the pool record by less than two-tenths. I didnt know the long-course record I broke the record and didnt know it. I broke it by 3-tenths and made zones, so Im really excited. My sister made zones, too. She swam before me and made the zone cut before I did. She had a phenomenal meet, praised Smucker. They both did. Fiona Davis was third in the 50 breaststroke in the 9-10 bracket to earn her zone qualifying time of 41.35, one of five girls to qualify in that event. She also swam on the third-place 200 free relay and had a ninth in the 50 free and a tenth in the 100 free for her top-10 finishes. I wasnt sure what times I could do, said Fiona. I was just trying to go as fast as I could. The breaststroke is my favorite race. I always trying to drop time and love everything about breaststroke. She finished behind Giovanna Cappabianca of Cuyahoga Falls, which has turned into a friendly rivalry. Its always exciting, said Fiona after Cappabianca broke the pool record of 42.01 with a 40.79. Ive been racing her two years and she broke one of the records. Bonezzi qualified for zones in the 13-14 age group in a trio of events. She won the 100 butterfly in 1:08.09, placed fourth in the 100 free (1:04.49) and was fifth in the 50 free with a 29.41. Whitman, who took the top spot in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:21.03, will join her. McCord was second his specialty, the 50 free, with a 24.88. Those five took the top honors locally with their performances, but there were a number of others who put together top-five finishes. For the Wooster Rec team in the 11-12 boys category, Nathaniel Cornelius placed second in the 11-12 200 free, touching out Rooney in that race. Rooney was second in the 50 free and Cornelius took silver in the 100 breaststroke and a fifth in the 100 fly. Those two then joined with Sam Schonfeld and Tyler Foster for runner-up honors in the 200 medley relay. Rooney was also third in the 100 freestyle and swam a leg on the 200 free relay with Nathaniel Cornelius, Schonfeld and Foster as they placed second. For the 10-u boys, Ben Cornelius was fourth in both the 200 free and 100 breaststroke, while the quartet of Kyle Ward, Ian Michaud, Seth Schonfeld and Jacob Halvorsen were fourth in the 200 medley relay. The 200 free relay also had a top-5 finish behind the efforts of Michaud, Thomas Matthew, Ben Serafinchon and Cornelius as they were fourth, edging teammates Johnny Sibilia, Joshua Lantis, Schonfeld and Ward by one spot in that race. For the 8-u boys, Johnny Sibilia placed fourth in the 50 fly. Sanchez sparked the 8-under girls with a runner-up finish in the 50 free and a third in the 50 back, while in the 10-u girls group, the 200 medley relay of Lindsay Kastner, Fiona Davis, Michelle Sibilia and Holly Miller were third in their race, while the 200 free relay of Miller, Sibilia, Sanchez and Davis was also third. For the Y of Wooster, Bonezzi was fourth and Whitman fifth in the 400 free, and Bonezzi added another fourth in the 200 IM. The medley relay of Hannah Rice, Rebecca Cornelius, Anna Tieche and Lindsay McMichael was fifth in their 200-meter race. Whitman added a narrow win in the 200 breaststroke, winning by .03 with her 2:53.47, while Bonezzi collected top honors in the 200 butterfly with a 2:31.07. Whitman also placed third in the 200 free. Matthew Dyer placed third in the 15-16 age group for the boys in the 100 breaststroke and also claimed a pair of fifths in the 800 free and the 100 back. On the girls 15-16 side, Emily Cornelius was fourth in the 100 breast. Overall the Wooster Rec girls team finished 12th with 99 points and the boys seventh with 175 points to take ninth overall (274 points) behind the winning performance of SwimStrong out of Strongsville (931.5 points). The unattached YWoo team was 13th with 91 points for the girls and 33 for the boys, placing 18th with 124 points, while the YMCA of Wooster team was 26th overall (43) points as the girls scored 32 points and the boys 11.

5 zone qualifying marks highlight local Freedlander showing

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