(March 6, 2015) Several Stephen Decatur swimmers earned spots on the podium for finishing eighth or better in their events last Friday during the 3A/2A/1A state championship meet at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover.
The top three finishers in each relay and individual event received medals. Ribbons were awarded to those who placed fourth through eighth in each race. Team points were scored in each event up to 16th place.
Decatur’s girls’ team finished fifth overall, scoring 136 points. Poolesville won the competition with 386 points.
“The girls did pretty well. I’m proud of how they did,” Decatur Coach Steve Deakyne said.
Lady Seahawks who took home an award for placing eighth or better were seniors Madison Tinus (50-yard freestyle, 26.43 seconds, fifth), captain Carly Deickman (100-yard breaststroke, 1:13.23, fifth) and junior Hailey Williams (500-yard freestyle, 5:51.59, sixth; 200-yard freestyle, 2:10.19, seventh).
“All of our relay teams made the podium, which is awesome,” Deakyne said.
Williams, Deickman, Tinus and senior Stephany Smith took fifth in the 200-yard medley relay race (2:02.71).
Junior Marley Rakow, senior Maria Zweifel, Smith and Tinus finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle relay race (1:51.50).
Senior Molly Wooten, Rakow, Williams and Deickman placed eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay race (4:11.36).
Girls who scored points for Decatur for placing 16th or better were Wooten (200-yard freestyle, 2:16.63, 16th), Deickman (200-yard IM, 2:33.70, 15th), Tinus (100-yard freestyle, 1:00.56, 15th) and Rakow (100-yard freestyle, 1:00.49, 13th).
The Decatur boys’ team came in 13th place overall with 60 points. Poolesville won the competition with 317.5 points.
“All of the boys swam well,” Decatur Coach Damien Sanzotti said. “It was a little hard leading up to states because when there’s no school [due to snow and icy road conditions] there’s no practice, and a couple boys were sick [during states].”
Junior Andrew Gottfried scored a spot on the podium for a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly event (55.23 seconds) and for placing eighth in the 200-yard IM (2:08.29).
Senior captain Dalton Warren scored points for the Seahawks for placing 13th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.77).
Warren, Gottfried, senior captain Chris Poole and freshman Kevin Williams swam to sixth place in the 200-yard medley relay race (1:48.14).
Poole, Gottfried, and sophomores Dustin Berkey and Tucker Cordial earned 15th place in the 200-yard freestyle relay race (1:40.47).
Both coaches were pleased with the season overall.
The Lady Seahawks finished with a 10-2 record. They placed second in the 3A/2A/1A East Regional meet.
“The season went pretty well. I think it was successful,” Deakyne said. “We dropped time throughout the season. The top-level kids improved, but the newcomers made the biggest improvements.”
Deakyne said he enjoyed his first season coaching the Seahawks and learned quite a bit.
A handful of key contributors will graduate in a few months, but a number of talented swimmers plan to return next season.
“We’ll have some spots to fill and it will be tough to replace some girls, so hopefully some girls will step up and fill those spots next year,” Deakyne said. “I think we’ll still be strong.”
The boys’ team finished with a 9-3 record. The Seahawks took second at regional.
“It was a great season. I didn’t know what to expect with so many newcomers, but they impressed me,” Sanzotti said. “It was one of our better seasons [record-wise].”
Several contributing seniors will graduate, but a solid core group will be back next year.
“We should be pretty good next year,” he said.
