Thursday
8
July 7, 2022
SPORTS: Youth, High School, College, Recreational, Professional
Serving Goochland County Since 1955
Manta Rays take on Wellesey at home By Robby Fletcher Sports Editor
O
n a hot summer day with a packed house full of supportive parents and Goochland fans, the Goochland YMCA Manta Rays swim team took to its home pool for the first time this season in an exciting win over Wellesley on Wednesday, June 29. In a 55-event meet with standout performances at the Goochland Family YMCA pool, Goochland finished with a total score of 1,178 points to Wellesley’s 751. The girls of Goochland also finished with 547 points, while the boys added 447. There were countless big time performances in the pool that made for an exciting day of swimming for the Manta Rays. Starting out the day with the Mixed 8 and Under 100-yard freestyle relay, Goochland earned 14 points with a first place finish from the relay team consisting of Maddox Townes, Bailey Brown, Kennedy Anderson and Catherine Bradbury, who clocked in at 1 minute, 23.68 seconds to beat Wellesley’s relay team that finished the race at 1:25.06. Later in Event 5, Goochland saw another impressive time in the Boys 11-2 Boys Freestyle contest from Jude Chapman, who finished with a time of 1:06.60 that beat his seed time of 1:10.84. In the Girls 13-14 100yard freestyle, three Manta Rays showed out with strong times, headlined by Callie Horst’s time of 1:00.51 to lead the way in the SV Division. Also swimming the 100 for Goochland were 13-year-old swimmers Ella Chewning and Katherine Pushinsky, who fin-
Wellesley’s Brooke M. Nelson just got ahead of her with a time of 57.09 seconds. Behind them in the same event under a different division, the Manta Rays had great results from 15-year-old Adele Wheatley at 1:03.97 and Lauren Lawson at 1:16.64. On the boys side, 17-yearold Cole Malkerson led the way in his division of the 100 freestyle with four Manta Ray teammates close behind. A star swimmer at Powhatan High School, Malkerson was in fine form for the Manta Rays, cruising to a time of 53.81 seconds. Behind him was Goochland High School standout Bill Belcher, fresh off a state tournament appearance and a top-3 regional result, who finished just behind his teammate Malkerson with a time of 54 seconds. Leyton Sutherland, Simon Smith Photos by Robby Fletcher and Tyler Nelson all chipped Above, Goochland Manta Rays swimmer Lucas Chewing competes in the Boys 9-10 100-yard freestyle event in a meet versus in with quality finishes for Wellesy at the Goochland Family YMCA pool on June 29. Below, Goochland’s Annika Rogerson competes in the Girls 15-18 50Goochland to help the team yard backstroke. earn 21 points in that event alone. Other notable performances from the Manta Rays include a first place result from Annika Rogerson in the Girls 15-18 50-yard backstroke at 30.66 seconds, a 28.19-second finish in the same event from Malkerson that won him that race over Wellesley’s Henry Berger, and a 25.65-second finish that won Sutherland the Boys 15-18 50-yard freestyle. The Manta Rays have six meets left on their season before they head to a two-day Championship Swim Meet from July 30-31. While there’s still plenty of meets left to improve on times and swim technique, the Manta Rays ished with times of 1:22.38 tiple swimmers at the top of the 15-18 100-yard freestyle the wall with a final time of have proven to be in winning and 1:54.00 respectively. the standings after the girls competition. For the girls, 1:02.10, just behind her seed form after an impressive home Goochland also had mul- and boys took control of Anneliese Rogerson touched time of 58.65 seconds, while performance.
