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Orange girls are undefeated in dual meets
(by Tony Lange - February 01, 2012)
Orange girls are undefeated in dual meets
By TONY LANGE
Beating Chagrin Falls, 105-78, last Saturday, enabled the Orange girls swim team to remain undefeated in dual-meet competitions this season.
After losing seniors Lauren Hurd and Carolyn Vekstein, the Lady Lions' only individual state qualifiers a year ago, having another undefeated dual-meet season was questionable, co-captain Jalyn Joseph said.
"Well, in the beginning of the season, we weren't sure if we could do it, and, with the bomb threats, we lost a lot of time and were behind with our training and everything, so we were a little discouraged," Joseph said. "But everybody started stepping up and pulled through, and we've been undefeated, and it's pretty great, because I didn't think we'd be able to do it, but we did."
Senior co-captain Amanda Bluso also said that going undefeated this season was an uncertainty.
"We lost a few really good seniors last year, so we had some big shoes to fill, but all the girls this year are really pulling through, and, basically, we've accomplished an undefeated season again, which is really awesome," Bluso said. "We weren't sure if we could pull it off, but we've been doing really well, and we hope we can continue that at sectionals."
During the Lady Lions' meet against Chagrin Falls, Joseph and Bluso won two events each.
Joseph won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:16.01 and the 100 breaststroke at 1:11.79. Bluso won the 50 freestyle in 26.36 and the 100 freestyle in 57.02.
Sophomore Kathryn Jordan also won two events for the Lions in her 100 butterfly race with a time of 1:05.38 and 100 backstroke with 1:04.61.
Last season, Jordan swam a 1:02.06 in the backstroke at the district meet as a freshman, and Orange head coach Tod Boyle said he is hoping she will have a break-out swim at the end of this season.
"She leads off our medley relay, and she has split like a 27.5 in the 50 backstroke, which is outstanding," Boyle said. "Based on that, she should be able to swim a minute or better in the 100 backstroke. One of the reasons why she is quick is because of her underwater dolphin kick. She's just extremely good underwater."
Also winning first for the Lady Lions in their meet against Chagrin Falls was Chloe Joseph in the diving with a score of 158.85.
Chagrin Falls' Kate Girouard won the only two victorious events for the Lady Tigers with her swims in the 200 freestyle, 2:05.72, and 500 freestyle, 5:36.18.
The Lady Lions won the three relay events: the 200 medley, 2:00.20; 200 freestyle, 1:47.70; and 400 freestyle, 3:53.46.
Joseph, Bluso and Jordan, along with teammates Kathleen Freund, Kaitlyn King, Samantha King and Isabelle Schenkel, all contributed to that effort.
Last season, the Lady Lions qualified all three of those relays to the state meet.
The relays are more important than the individual events, Joseph said. "They're what we really focus on, because our team is more team oriented than focused on the individual," she said. "So, getting all three relays to the state meet is probably the most important thing."
Last season, Joseph clocked a 2:13.47 in the IM and a 1:09.21 in the 100 breaststroke at the district meet. There were three automatic state qualifiers in the IM from other districts that swam slower than Joseph, while her breaststroke time was less than a second off from qualifying.
During the regular season, Joseph's best time in the IM was a 2:18 last year, while she has been in the 2:15 range this regular season.
"I'm happy about going a 2:15 already this season," she said. "I'm hoping that I can break a 2:10 this season, because usually when the taper comes I can take four or five seconds off my time from the season, so I'm hoping that I can do that."
In the 50 and 100 freestyle races, Bluso swam a 25.39 and a 55.41 at the district meet last season. Two automatic state qualifiers were slower than her in the 50, while her 100 was 1.52 seconds off from qualifying.
The sprint freestyle races are much more difficult to drop time in, but Bluso is hoping to break 25 seconds in the 50 and 55 seconds in the 100, she said.
"There's no messing up in a 50. You have to get everything down to a pinpoint. You can't mess up anything," Bluso said. "If you mess up the turn, then your 50 is done. Milliseconds matter in the 50. At the end, it also comes down to the touch. You need to stretch your shoulder with your fingertips hitting the touch pad. Also the dive, if you dive too deep, you're done. If you dive too shallow, you're done. It all comes done to the little aspects of what you practice so hard for every day."
From tapering to rest to nutrition to the race, it all comes down to timing, she said.
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