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Parkersburg swimmers sweep home triangular

Parkersburg junior Kate Snider turned in a victorious time of 1:06.68 on Wednesday evening at the YMCA to best the field in the 100 yard backstroke. Photo by Jay W. Bennett.

Parkersburg South senior Devan Wilson won the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:13.40 during a triangular on Wednesday night at the Parkersburg YMCA. Photo by Jay W. Bennett.

PARKERSBURG — Five different Parkersburg High School swimmers had two individual victories apiece here Wednesday night during a triangular at the YMCA as the Big Reds amassed 232 total points to top runner-up Parkersburg South (118) and Marietta High School (84).

The Big Red girls finished with 117 points to the Tigers’ 76 while the red and white boys defeated the rival Patriots, 115-76.

“We had a regression tonight,” admitted Patriot head coach Steve Lutz, who watched Dominic Collins win the 50 freestyle by nipping Big Red Nathan Burd, 22.68 to 22.75. “This was not a very good showing. I don’t know if we are just really tired. It wasn’t good. We weren’t nearly where we needed to be.

“A couple of the guys swam well, but the others didn’t and I think it was more mental than physical at this point and that’s my job. That means I’m not doing a good job. If their head isn’t in the right place I’ve got get my act together. You’re going to have ups and downs and it happens. We’ll see how it goes. All isn’t lost yet. We’ve got a long season.”

Parkersburg South’s only other victory came from Devan Wilson in the 100 breastroke. He posted a winning tome of 1:13.40.

Marietta coach Walt Teer said of the Tigers “it’s a rebuilding year for us. We lost a lot of boys and a lot of seniors. We’ve got 20 girls and we are down to six boys.”

The lone individual victory for the Tigers in the tri came during the 100 freestyle when Alicen Teer touched the wall in 1:02.65. She beat Tiger teammates Rachel Weekley (1:03.36) and Regan Loeber (1:04.50).

“We had some best times tonight and the kids swam pretty well,” said Big Red head man Terry Nisewarner, who got double wins from Grace Cox (200 free, 2:05.48; 500 free 5:41.63), Olivia Collett (200 IM, 2:28.49; 100 fly, 1:08.04), Kate Snider (50 free, 26.70; 100 back, 1:06.68), Brady Colvin (200 free, 2:05.46; 500 free, 5:56.06) and David Snider (200 IM, 2:13.73; 100 fly, 57.65).

“They’ve been working really hard and they are a little tired. I’m pretty happy and I’m excited. Our boys are building up some depth and it’s exciting to have. We went from seven boys two years ago to 20 now.”

Although Burd was nipped at the wall in the 50 freestyle, he topped Collins by nearly two seconds in the 100 freestyle with a winning effort of 51.23. Big Red Ben Carter’s time of 1:09.64 was just good enough to beat Patriot Reece Fletcher for the win in the 100 backstroke. PHS’ other individual triumph came from Ashlyn Poling. She topped the field in the 100 breaststroke by 10-plus seconds with a clocking of 1:22.18.

PHS dominated the relays and won five of six. The only event the red and white didn’t win was the 200 freestyle relay. That victory went to the Patriot quartet of Wilson, Josh Lynn, Kyle Houdyshell and the anchor Collins as they finished in 1:38.40.

In the girls 200 medley relay, Snider, Poling, Mariah Sands and Julia Collett finished in 2:07.90. Julia Collett, Sands, Olivia Collett and Grace Cox teamed up to finish the 200 free relay in 1:52.07. In the 400 free relay, Grace Cox, Gemma Cox, Olivia Collett and Snider sped to victory in 4:11.97.

The Big Red boys posted a 1:52.81 winning effort in the 200 medley relay thanks to Snider, Max Hughes, Burd and Jakeb Bertram. Nisewarner’s foursome of AJ Vann, Carter, Colvin and Snider went 3:55.93 to capture the 400 free relay.

Finishing runner-up in individual events were South’s Makayla Burns (200 free) and Collins (100 free); Marietta’s Hunter Danford (200 free), Weekley (200 IM), Teer (50 free), Stewart (100 fly) and Loeber (100 back) along with the Big Reds’ Carter (200 IM), Vann (100 breast) Quentin Oliphant (100 fly), Zi Lu (500 free), Gemma Cox (500 free) and Olivia Ramsay (100 breast).

PHS and Marietta return to action on Saturday with the Tigers heading to Coshocton and the Big Reds off to the Clarksburg Rotary Invitational. The Patriots hit the pool again on Saturday, Dec. 17 in Wheeling.

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