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Ode to South Seniors: South recognizes 11 seniors at Patriot Invite

Parkersburg South’s Camryn McLain swim the breaststroke portion of the 200 individual medley during Saturday’s Patriot Invite at the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg. McLain finished first in the event. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG – Senior Day at Saturday’s Patriot Invitational recognized 11 Parkersburg South swimmers competing in their final home meet of their high school career.

Two in particular, Vada Hafer and Chesney Douglas, initially hedged on their decision to return to the team for their senior year. The past is the past and now they are all in attempting to lead the program to destinations rare to girls swimming at the school.

“I saw a lot of pictures from swim meets and my teammates being happy,” said Hafer, who did not return as a full-fledged member until after Christmas after working at Chick-fil-A where coaches and teammates would visit trying to change her mind.

Hafer admitted she has plenty of work ahead in the pool to return to form.

“I wasn’t really in the best mindset when I wasn’t swimming, so I thought I would come back to get myself back,” added Hafer, who plans to go into real estate when she graduates in the spring.

After anchoring the 200 free relay to a first-place finish, Parkersburg’s Delaney Snodgrass, left, high-fives a Parkersburg South swimmer in the adjoining lane during Saturday’s Patriot Invite at the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Kderry Patrick)

Douglas, who plans to attend cosmetology school after high school graduation, had second-thoughts at the outset as well. Her grandfather is South assistant coach Jim Pursley, so she felt the right thing to do return to the team for him. Both Douglas and Hafer are four-year members of a South swim program seeking to win an OVAC title for the first time since 2010.

South is also in pursuit of the school’s first girls state swim championship.

“Today is definitely a day to remember – especially getting to do it with all my friends and people I have been close with,” Douglas said.

As for what transpired in the pool on Saturday, Parkersburg swept both the boys and girls titles. On the boys side, the Big Reds accumulated 349 points compared to runner-up South at 323. Levi Morr in the 100 breaststroke represented the one individual title for the Big Reds. The team also won two of the three relays with victories in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.

PHS coach Emily Martin amped the training during the holiday break. Like the majority of the team in the seven-school field, everyone attempted to fight through swimming tired.

Photo by Kerry Patrick Warren senior Mason Francis leaves the starting blocks for the start of the 50 freestyle during Saturday’s Patriot Invite at the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg. Francis won both the 50 free and 100 free. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“The kids swam really well – I’m really excited about their ability to race even when they are tired,” Martin said. “Over Christmas break we do the hardest workouts of the entire year so they are exhausted. I know. I made sure of it.

“The times may not be exactly where they want to be, but at a meet like this we are looking at their ability to race against people next to them. I saw so many races where they were able to get their hand on the wall first and still able to put up some really impressive times.”

Coach Martin expect anywhere from 15 to 18 schools as part of next Saturday’s Penguin Invitational at the Parkersburg YMCA.

“I was teasing Brayden Lotton that he made a liar out of me because all day I told everyone it’s OK to be doing some slower times while swimming tired,” Martin said. “So he goes out in the 500 free and gets within five seconds of his finish at states last year. On our ‘B’ relay just outsplit our entire ‘A’ relay.

“That’s the problem I’ve got. I have ‘B’ relay swimmers swimming faster than my ‘A’ relay swimmers. I’ve got a team full of ‘A’ relay swimmers for only so many spots, so they are fighting for that every time they go out.”

The PHS girls nudges out South in the team standings, 327-322. The Big Reds are making the most out of a seven-member roster. Their one individual win occurred in the 200 freestyle with Delaney Snodgrass. Similar to their male counterparts, the Big Red girls won two of three relays with the 200 free relay and 400 free relay.

“I’ve talked about it all year – on the girls side we are small but mighty,” Martin said. “To win the meet with seven girls is just incredible. And that has been going on from meet to meet. We only have a few, but they are fast. We have swimmers who are exceeding all my expectations.”

Parkersburg South occupied its share of first-place finishers. On the girls side, both Camryn McLain (200 IM, 500 freestyle) and Vivian Grimm (50 free, 100 free) were double-winners. Teammate Paige Johnson won the 100 backstroke.

For the South boys, Quade Harris was also a double-winner with first-place efforts in the 100 fly and 100 back.

South coach Ryan Radcliff is looking at the bigger picture and getting his swimmers trained for the back half of the schedule. OVAC, regional and state is the big prize he wants his kids to prepare for.

“At this time off year, these are more practice meets and the kids know that,” Radcliff said. “It’s about preparing strategy and race preparation. The kids knew what they had to work on and they did a good job of that.

“Overall, it was a good meet. I was satisfied.”

Doddridge County brought its full complement of swimmers. Of the six who competed, Isabella McGrady placed second in both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke, while Addy Robey took third in the 100 breaststroke.

“I’m trying to get my kids seeded in events they haven’t swam,” DCHS coach Justin Robey said. “I know what they want to swim in regionals, so I am kind of laying off a little bit on the events they really want to hit at states.”

Several area schools from the Ohio side of the river also competed.

The Warren girls, behind a pair of runner-up finishes from Grace Francis in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, placed third with 268 points.

Makayla Elder also contributed a second-place effort in the 100 freestyle on the girls side, while on the boys side the Warriors wrapped up three individual wins from Mason Francis in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, and Eli Watkins in the 500 freestyle.

“Eli is our mid-distance kid – he trains extremely hard as well,” Warren coach Mike Francis said. “We’re getting him to drop some time, but again he is swimming tired, too. When we get these kids on taper and they will be a lot faster.”

Shortly after competing in the 500, Watkins stepped in as part of the 200 freestyle relay which placed second – just a second-plus slower than first-place South.

“It’s hard to get Eli to sprint after he has done a 500,” coach Francis said.

“Like Mason, Eli can do all four strokes. If we didn’t have another boy who do all four strokes we wouldn’t have medley relay team,” Warren coach Jenny Miller added.

The Warren boys placed fourth with 183 points. Parkersburg completed the sweep by after producing 349 points in the boys division.

“The kids are swimming tired more than any other year,” Miller said. “We keep reminding them because they are not used to that, but they are swimming pretty consistently. We tell our veteran swimmers to just stick with it because in a couple of weeks it will be championship season.

“The newer swimmers aren’t working as hard as the veteran swimmers, so they are dropping time and that’s a big encouragement for them.”

Spearheading the Marietta contingent were Kipplyn McNeal (500 freestyle) ad Nora Vigneron (100 backstroke) taking third in their respective events. The Tigers placed fifth in the team standings with 156 points, while their male counterparts occupied fifth place with 73 points.

Oliver Smith provided the best individual showing for Marietta after placing fourth in the 100 freestyle.

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