Pulaski, Radford swimmers kick off seasons at RU

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwesttimes.com

RADFORD – Both the Pulaski Cougars and Radford Bobcats swim teams got their first chance to prove themselves on Tuesday, as both squads competed in a five team meet at Radford University’s Dedmon Center Natatorium.

Alongside Radford and Pulaski in the meet were the swimming teams from Christiansburg, Auburn, and Cave Spring. Each team would compete against one another in a unique format that basically amounted to each team competing in four individual meets.

For the Cougars, the main issue may have well been nerves. A total of five disqualifications were handed down to the team, including two top performances by Keaton Hanks in the 100 yard breast stroke and Jonathan Holcomb in the 100 yard fly.

“Well, I think we did well for our first meet,” said Cougars coach Hank Hanks. “We had several disqualifications on the guy’s side, which hurt us a little. We had two guys basically finish first and both get disqualifications. It will affect the team scores quite a bit.”

Natalee Roseberry, arguably the Cougar girl’s best swimmer, was not competing due to being at the One Act competition for the PCHS Players. Despite not being there, the girl’s relay teams still had an impressive finish.

In the 400 meter freestyle relay, the team of Sibley Brown, Sara Holston, Lauren Palmer, and Emma Reeves finished second behind Cave Spring. Radford would finish third in the event, just under two seconds behind.

The Bobcats, who have a much larger team than Pulaski, had some impressive performances as well. The most impressive was the team performance in the 200 yard freestyle relay. The team, which consisted of Hanna Krayer, Amanda Williams, Maddy Denny, and Emma Burke, finished first among the seven teams who competed.

“This is a great start for our season,” said Bobcats coach Heather Rowland. “We have 46 swimmers this year, which is an improvement. We had 42 compete and 20 were brand new in their first meet ever. 22 were returning swimmers. I saw some personal best times from my returning swimmers by more than five and six seconds that just about brought tears to my eyes.”

In team competition, the Pulaski boy’s lost to Cave Spring (240-79), Christiansburg (189-98), and Radford (158-98). They picked up a win against Auburn (111-13). On the girl’s side, Pulaski picked up two wins against Christiansburg (128-95) and Auburn (124-104). They lost to Cave Spring (199-102) and Radford (195-116).

The Radford boy’s team split their meets. They picked up a win over Pulaski (158-98) and Auburn (177-10). Their losses came at the hands of Christiansburg (193-144) and Cave Spring (242-120). The Bobcat girl’s team won three of their four meets against Pulaski (195-116), Christiansburg (212-90), and Auburn (196-99). Their lone loss was a tight contest to Cave Spring (189-176).

Both teams will return to the same pool on Saturday for their second meet of the season, when they will compete in the 17th Annual Southwest Invitational swimming meet. Teams from different counties and even different states will be competing in the meet.

“Basically, the invitational we have been doing for 17 years now,” Hanks said. “It started long before I started coaching this. We have 400 kids coming from 20 different schools, several from Tennessee. I don’t think any Carolina schools are coming this year, but they usually do. Our kids are excited about that because they get to swim in exactly all the events they want to in that. We don’t have cover all the different events like you do in a regular meet.”

Coach Rowland feels that competing in the same area that they have practiced in may serve as a huge benefit for her teams come Saturday.

“I think give us an advantage in the fact that my brand new kids don’t have to adjust to a new pool and a new surrounding,” Rowland said. “They have been here, they have practiced, they know what it sounds like, and what it looks like. It isn’t totally new to them.”

(12-10-09)