Seahawks Swimmers Open in Style

It was an encouraging start to the season for the swim teams, both of whom swept a tri-meet against Pasco and Weeki Wachee on Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Sunlake has its first home meet Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the Land O' Lakes Recreation Center against Zephyrhills.

Swimming at the St. Leo pool last week, the Seahawks girls won 70-24 against Pasco and 81-12 against Weeki Wachee. The boys team had a closer meet against Pasco, 61-33, while easing by Weeki Wachee 83-10.

"Having lost 13 seniors left a huge deficit for our team, but we have some talented seniors this year," said coach Glenna Chamberlin.

Namely, team captains Austin Van Vliet, D.J. Sarrett and Savannah Mattox are expected to lead the way. A promising sophomore, Carigan Albert, along with Nicole Harder are also worth keeping an eye on.

In the girls meet at St. Leo, Albert (200-meter freestyle, 100 butterfly), Harder (500 free, 100 back) and Courtney Meyer (200 I.M. and 100 breast) were all double winners in individual races.

Winning relay teams for the girls were: Albert, Meyer, Harder and Mattox (medley); Grace Johnson, Delaney Surarez, Amanda Smith and Mattox (200 free); and Nicole Wilner, Smith, Jessica Carr and Julie Villicana (400 free).

For the boys, Sarrett, Van Vliet and Austin Waschsman each won two individual races, with Sarrett narrowly missing on a school record in the breaststroke.

"We have 24 girls and 28 guys on the team. My goal last year was to take more athletes to regionals than ever, and that's the same goal for this year," Chamberlin said.

Tuesday's meet against Zephryhills is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.