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Landerwood sets torrid relay pace
(by Tony Lange - July 21, 2011)
Landerwood sets torrid relay pace
By TONY LANGE
The 42nd annual swimming of the Chagrin Valley Invitational Relays last Saturday was dominated by the big three teams in neighborhood swimming. Landerwood, Chardon and Chagrin Valley Recreation Center combined to win 25 of the 37 events.
Fourteen teams participated in the relays, bringing more than 600 swimmers and more than 550 relay entries. Many competitors said the daylong event is their favorite meet of the year. It provides a fun atmosphere, which offers swimmers at various skill levels the opportunity to compete in relay events not found elsewhere.
The invitational not only features four-member relays for each of the four swimming strokes -- backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle -- plus the standard medleys, but it includes various age-group structures, a mixture of genders and family-only events. The 100-foot-long, eight-lane pool on the Chagrin Falls upper school campus also adds to the uniqueness of the meet. All relays are 133 yards long as opposed to the typical 200-yard relay.
Besides fireworks, nine record-breaking relays added some spark to the meet. One of the new records was set in the morning preliminaries, when there are multiple heats per event and top swimmers are known to sandbag, or conserve energy, as they go fast enough to advance to the evening finals, when the medals and ribbons are awarded. The other eight records were set in the finals, when swimmers are known to switch from their baggy practice suits to their high-end racing suits.
Eight of the records set last Saturday were to the new record book, dubbed "meet-in-water" records, which was started in 2008 because of a rule change that requires the two swimmers on each relay who start from the shallow end of the pool to use push-off starts instead of the much faster dive starts. State regulations prohibit dives in less than 4 feet of water. However, there was one relay team that broke a record in the old four-dive record book.
In one of the most exciting races of the day, the Rockey family from Landerwood broke the family freestyle record from 2002 by 0.12 second. The team of Trevor, 18, Daniel, 17, Drew, 21, and Hillary, 23, upset the Gleske family from the Wembley Country Club by 0.36 second.
Those who are familiar with the meet know that scores are not kept in the friendly competition, but the host team, Chagrin Rec, repeatedly captures the most gold medals year after year. It boasted 12 winning relay teams in 2008, 15 winning teams in 2009 and 13 winning teams in 2010. This year, however, Landerwood Club, located in Pepper Pike, and Chardon Club topped Chagrin Rec in the gold medal count.
Triumphant in 10 events, Landerwood was the top gold medal getter in this year's competition. Landerwood set four of the eight records, posted three gold-medal upsets in the finals and won four of the meet's nine medley relays. Leading the way was Kingsley Bowen, 14, who was the only quadruple gold medalist from any team this year. One of his victories came in the family open medley, when he teamed with his brothers Ted, 23, and Tim, 19, and his dad, Bill, 57. They clocked a 1:15.52.
Triple-event winners included Cameron Tamjidi, and Julian Semenoro, both 13.
Landerwood's seven double-event winners included Nick Tamjidi, 15, Rose Pophal, 10, Brandon Gotlieb, 13, Hillary Rockey, 23, John Vollmer, 14, Tyler Nelson, 13, and Remy Semenoro, 13. Single-event winners included Steve Kish, 12, Madison Gotlieb, 11, Gigi Vollmer, 11, Lindsay Russo, 10, Isabel Ergun, 11, Peter Fellowes, 21, Madeline Kinkopf, 16, Thomas Fellowes, 18, Claire Pophal, 8, Kathleen Freund, 13, and Trevor, Daniel and Drew Rockey.
Besides the Rockey family freestyle record, Landerwood also set a new record in the 48-and-under total age mixed breastroke relay with J. Semenoro, R. Prophal, M. Gotlieb and K. Bowen, who clocked a 1:49.48. In the 54-and-under boys' breaststroke relay, J. Semenoro, B. Gotlieb, C. Tamjidi and N. Tamjidi set a new record with a 1:36.19 preliminary time. The last record came in the open mixed medley with a team of P. Fellowes, M. Kinkopf. T. Fellowes and H. Rockey, which clocked a 1:13.87.
Chardon was second in the gold medal count with eight triumphant relay teams. The Sharks won four of the seven backstroke relays and all three 8-and-under relays. They set one record and posted one upset for gold in the finals.
Leading the way for Chardon were 8-year-old triple event winners Madison Arganti and Noel Rozic. Chardon's seven double-event winners included Frankie Kline, 8, Sam Marra, 12, Rebecca Marra, 14, Peyton Rudman, 10, Megan Chapin, 13, Gracie Duchon, 7, and Shae Eichele, 12. Single-event winners included Joey Kline, 7, John LaVan, 11, Mike Knack, 9, Dominic Arganti, 10, Michelle LaVan, 17, Noah Wilmot, 17, Matt Parrish, 31, Phoebe Langivis, 10, Sarah Bennett, 9, Lydia Demes, 8, Nick Hashier, 16, and Halle Tierney, 15.
Chardon's record-breaking relay was set by M. LaVan, R. Marra, N. Wilmot and M. Parrish in the open mixed backstroke relay, which clocked a 1:13.88.
Chagrin Rec was third this year in the gold medal count with seven winning relays. Chagrin Rec broke three records, including the newest addition to the meet, the 160-plus freestyle relay in which four swimmers' ages have to add up to 160 or more. That relay included Chris Rooney, 44, Chris Brookes, 39, Melissa Smith, 44, and Matt Jaroch, 40, which clocked a 1:06.61.
Chagrin Rec also posted two upsets for gold medals. In the closest race of the day, and perhaps the biggest upset, Chagrin Rec's 42-and-under girls' butterfly team of Lurch Mackenzie, 11, Audrey Dietz, 10, Georgia Markey, 11, and Colleen Kieffaber, 10, edged Twinsburg by 0.01 second. The Twinsburg team was 4.2 seconds faster than Chagrin Rec in the preliminaries.
Leading the way as double-event winners for Chagrin Rec were William Lane, 13, Kate Stavnicky, 10, and Mary Motch, 14. Single-event winners included Matthew Pecoraro, 11, David Rann, 17, Lindsey Quinn, 18, Brooke McCentee, 17, Ryan Astalos, 18, Alex Wintering 9, Zachariaah Hoover, 10, Jason Vasil, 10, Annalise Hoover, 12, Catherine Coffrey, 10, Shannon Staley, 10, Clairre Doerr, 13, Abby Staley, 13, and Halle D'Amico, 14.
Chagrin Rec's second record breaker came in the open mixed breaststroke relay with a team of D. Rann, L. Quinn, B. McCentee and R. Astalos, which swam a 1:26.88. Its third record-breaker was in the 54-and-under girls' butterfly relay with C. Doerr, A. Staley, H. D'Amico and M. Motch, which clocked a 1:18.66.
Twinsburg Rec took home gold in four events. Double-event winners included Michelle Leahy, 13, and Matt Stauffer, 9. Single-event winners included Alana Stevens, 9, Meredith Nock, 14, Rebekah Watson, 16, Mikey Strong, 10, Matt Olson, 12, Philip Renzie 16, Maddie Schmitt, 10, Amanda Marlow, 18, Mary Labus, 27, Taylor Ulisse, 17, and Amanda Knapp, 18.
Solon Rec won three events, set one record and had one upset for a gold medal. In the girls' 54-and-under breaststroke relay, Anna Wong, 15, Annie Marquiss, 18, Mary Kate Harmody, 11, and Lily Rothchild, 10, dropped 4.6 seconds from their preliminary time to upset Macedonia, Landerwood and Wembley for the gold with a time of 1:42.72. Wong and Marquiss paired with Dan Telljohann, 18, and Terrence Wong, 19, to win the mixed open butterfly relay with a time of 1:08.54. And Telljohann was joined by Dan McMahon, 18, Chris Marquiss, and Kyle McMahon, 21, to win the gold medal in the fastest relay of the day -- the boys' open freestyle, which clocked 59.43 seconds.
Bainbrook-Laurel Springs won two relays, including the boys' 42-and-under butterfly relay team of Nick Bester, 18, Nicholas Korenowske, 7, Carter McAbier, 8, and George Seu, 9, which clocked a 2:01.15. Bainbrook also won the 42-and-under girls' freestyle relay with Sydney Braverman, 13, Julia Seu, 7, Makena Maurer, 10, and Katelyn Siragusa, 11 with a time of 1:28.20.
The Chagrin Valley Athletic Club won the 54-and-under boys' butterfly relay with Chaz Manocchio, 15, Danny O'Sickey, 14, William Toth, 10, and Eric Poe, 15, which clocked a 1:18.69.
The Wembley Country Club upset Twinsburg to win the boys' 42-and-under freestyle relay with Jaden Yon, 10, Ben Pearlstein, 10, Michael Holleran, 10, and Luke Binder, 10. That team clocked a 1:32.96.
Macedonia won the girls' 54-and-under medley relay with a team of Alexya Patz, 11, Jamie Wlosowicz, 17, Christina McFarland, 10, and Gabby Yonkers, 13, which clocked a 1:28.65.
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