It’s still early in the season, but the Winder-Barrow High School Swim Doggs already seem to be in top form.
Overall, WBHS won 13 of 22 events at Clayton County and saw more school records fall. Coach Jennifer Blevins was obviously pleased with her swimmers’ effort.
“Although we did not win the meet, the kids were quite impressive,” Blevins said. “If we had more depth, we could have easily won.”
Brittany Litke broke the school record in the 500 free. Her mark of 5:48.6 broke the previous record of 6:35.75, set by Anya Lewis in 2009.She also set a mark in the 200 IM (2:20.53) and earned another spot on the block at state with a qualifying time in that race.
“Brittany breaking the 200 IM school record was the highlight for me,” Blevins said. “That was the only record left on the books from when I took over the program in 2002.”
Litke’s team broke the old record set by Kristen Kiousis.
“Our goal with Brittany is to get her to qualify for state in every individual event and then let her choose what she wants to swim at the actual state meet,” Blevins said. “I think she is fully capable of qualifying in everything and I look forward to her taking on this challenge throughout the rest of the season. Brittany missed the state 500 free qualifying time by 8.64 seconds, but that should be easy for her to cut off. Her 500 free swim was difficult since she could not see a clock and had no other swimmer around to challenge her.”
Alex Hentenaar’s 500 free time was one second off of the school record and Blevins said the swimmer hopes to break the record the next time he swims in the event.
Clara Moody is still chasing the 100 free record and Daniel Dean’s goal is to break his brother’s, Thomas, 100 breaststroke record set in 2006.
“The swimmers earned several personal bests and times are still dropping,” Blevins said. “As a coach, that is all I can ask for: good kids, hard work and improvement.”
One of the highlights of the trip actually didn’t occur in the water.
“When we got on the bus to leave, a couple of swimmers told me that local Clayton County fans approached them and told them what good kids our team had and what great swimmers they are,” Blevins said. “When we stopped for dinner, I shared the story with some of the parents and a couple told me that a few local parents who were sitting in the stands told them the same thing. No matter how well the kids swim, hearing from random people that the Winder-Barrow High School swimmers are good kids and good swimmers just makes all of the time and dedication to coaching more than worth it. We saw that last week.”
