Swimmers sparkle at sectionals

by Eric Keppeler
Grand Island Dispatch, November 17, 2006

The Grand Island girls swim team closed out the 2006 season in style, posting a solid showing at last weekend’s Section VI Championship at the Erie Community College Flickinger Center.

With several hundred swimmers representing more than 50 schools, the Vikings were much more successful in terms of lowering their times than in actual placing, but Grand Island coach Lee Herbst was thrilled with what he saw.

“As far as the rankings against other swimmers and other teams, we didn’t do so well,” he said. “But just about all of our girls were able to improve on their best times at this meet, and that’s the most important thing.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise came from his two divers. Junior Mallory Griffiths wound up 15th overall with 274.85 points, while senior Rachael Kaplan was right behind in 16th at 254.60.

“They were both very consistent with their dives,” Herbst said. “They didn’t qualify for the finals a week earlier in the NFL meet, and that was only eight schools. This time it was more than 50 schools, and they made the finals anyway. They’ve both shown great improvement in the last couple of meets, and they’ve worked hard on their extra dives.”

Senior Erin Bonaquist, one of the team’s tri-captains, competed in all three relays, and her individual times in each were her best of the season.

Bonaquist combined with junior Kelsey Fortman, senior tri-captain Nicole Morgan and freshman Stacy Cich in both the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams. The foursome clocked in at 3:58.13 to place 14th in the 400 freestyle relay, and they also wound up in 18th in the 200 freestyle relay. The 200 medley relay team of sophomore Kristin Millar, senior tri-captain Alicia Neutz, Bonaquist and Fortman also came back for the finals and placed in the top 24.

Junior Kristin Toellner posted her best time of the season in the 500 freestyle, checking in at 5:44.27, good for 12th place overall. And Morgan, who had been slowed by an illness for the past two weeks, rebounded nicely in the 200. Her time of 2:07.67 was just a shade off her personal best mark, but it was still good enough for 10th place overall.

“I’m pretty happy with what all of the girls did at sectionals,” Herbst said. “Especially when you compare it to what they did before. They all showed great improvement.”

The Vikings will take a sizeable hit with this year’s graduation in June, losing all three of the captains in Morgan, Bonaquist and Neutz, who have a combined 13 years with the program. Kaplan also graduates, but the rest of the sectional competitors will be back next season.

“We’ve got a good nucleus coming back next year,” Herbst said. “Plus, we had a couple other of the younger swimmers who just missed qualifying for sectionals this time around. A lot of them have a good chance of making it next year, if they continue to work hard.”