BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity swim teams earned a split against always-tough Kent Island this week in a tune-up of the Bayside Conference championships this weekend.
The Decatur boys rolled past the Buccaneers, 96-67, on Tuesday in a home meet at the YMCA in Pocomoke. The Decatur boys took first place in a total of 10 events. Meanwhile, the Decatur girls fell to Kent Island, 97-72, in a highly contested meet. The Seahawks took first in just one event, but finished a closed second in every other one.
On the boys’ side, Gavin Stearn took first in the 200-freestyle, finishing in 2:03:03. Caleb Vaxmonsky came in first in the 200-individual medley, finishing in 2:17:75. Richard Poist finished first in the 100-butterfly, coming in at 57:34. Stearn also finished first in the 100-freestyle, coming in at 54:75.
Vaxmonsky finished first in the 500-freestyle, coming in at 5:32:35. Poist was first in the 100-backstroke with a time of 1:05:22 and Jack Slaysman finished first in the 100-breastroke with a time of 1:08:66. The Decatur boys also swept the relays. In the 200-medley relay, the team of Vaxmonsky, Slaysman, Poist and Stearn took first, finishing in 1:49:94.
In the 200-freestyle relay, the team of Slaysman, Nick Cardamone, Patrick O’Halloran and Vaxmonsky took first, finishing in 1:40:07.
In the 400-freestyle relay, the team including Poist, O’Halloran, Stearn and Luke Bahlman took first, finishing in 3:48:57. Coach Steve Deakyne was pleased with the performance heading into the Bayside championships this weekend.
“This was a great meet with a couple of best times,” he said. “We are looking forward to the Bayside Championships on Saturday.”
On the girls’ side, the Seahawks fell to Kent Island, 97-72, on Tuesday in a meet that featured several close finishes. Decatur took first in just one event, a win in the 200-individual medley by Natalie Canham, who edged out her Buccaneer challenger at the wall by less than a second. Otherwise, the Seahawks finished second in every other event against Kent Island.
Kiley Hamby took second in the 200-freestyle, Emma Sperry took second in the 100-butterfly, Gracie Coker took second in the 100-backstrokeand Mikayla Denault took second in the 100-breaststroke. In the relays, the Decatur team including Coker, Emma Coyman, Sperry and Farrah Brown took second in the 200-medley relay. The team of Coker, Sperry, Canham and Kayden Hamby took second in the 200-freestyle relay; and the team of Brown, Kayden Hamby, Katelyn Pizlo and Canham took second in the 400-freestyle relay.
“Even though we did not win the most events tonight, the girls continued to earn season-best and lifetime-best times,” said Coach Kristina Watts. “With our conference championship meet this Saturday, we will continue to work on our mental and physical techniques so we can swim with confidence and continue to drop time.”
