VSC Sets Pool On Fire at NW Divisionals

The 2010 Northwest Indiana Divisional Meet was held at Crawfordsville High School. This three day extravaganza brought together the fastest swimmers in the Region. The Valparaiso Swim Club was proud to field one of the larger teams at the meet. The club qualified 30 athletes for the event. This meet was culmination of 7 months of hard work for many athletes, for others, they swam so fast they earned an opportunity to compete at the Indiana State Championship. No matter how each swimmers meet ended there was one constant phrase shared between various coaches on deck, “Those Valpo kids are fast.”

The meet started off with the 10 & Under 200IM. Valpo was led by Ryan Hrosik and Sam Behrend, both boys hit the wall registering lifetime best times.valparaiso-swim-club The end result, a common theme for the weekend, VSC took home their first two medals of the meet. This was followed up by Maddie Karp and Annie Rastovski swimming lifetime best times in the 12 & Under 200IM. Dani Radosivich then placed 4th in the 400 IM. Later that evening Valparaiso returned to the awards podium when Hrosik placed 4th and Behrend placed 6th in the 200free. The 14 & Under boys were not to be outdone when Javier Arriagada stood as 4th place, and his training partner Evan Curry stood 5th in the 500free, Radosivich was 2nd in the 500free.

Saturday morning was no different than the night before. Valpo took the pool for warm-ups at 8:00am and was on fire until the end of the night. The 11-12 year old girls were a 6 girl wrecking crew. Rachel Stark, Emily Lamberson, Haley Hrosik, Annie Rastovski, Rebecca Gronceski, and Maddie Karp showed why the VSC girls will be a strong presence for years to come. Alex Rastovski, recently aging up to the 13-14 division, showed that the 13-14 group of boys for VSC will continue its run of being so successful at the regional and state level for several more years. Shannon Lamb and Elizabeth Schlichting swam great swims in the morning bringing a successful end to their 8th grade year. Earning a trip to the awards podium that night was Kevin Mangel, Alex Schreier, Sydney Perry, Allie Lamberson, Radosivich, Curry, and Arriagada. Mangel placed 5th in the 200 Breast while Schreier won that event and qualified for the Senior State Championships. All of the swimmers showed their ability to finish a race hard and push themselves to the wall to finish as fast as possible. This was best displayed in Allie Lamberson racing to the wall like a freight train and finishing so hard that she broke her finger.

Between prelims and finals the pool belonged to the 10&Unders. Pacing the way was the divisional debut of Allie DeTorrice, Lizzie Simac, and Ian Holmes in the 50Back. All three handled the pressure of a championship meet like seasoned veterans. The event saw Behrend place 1st with Hrosik 3rd, both boys earning Age Group State qualifying times. The Trio of Behrend, Holmes, and Hrosik continued their success in the 100free; Hrosik stood proudly on the podium with the 5th place medal hanging around his neck. The surprise event of the afternoon was the 50breast, this marked Lucy Cobble’s divisional debut. By keeping her head down and working her pullout and turn Cobble swam a lifetime best, and helped pace her teammate Lizzie Simac. The event was continued with Grace Cobble taking first place, and teammate Cole St. Aubin winning the boys’ 50breast. St. Aubin earned his first Age Group State Qualifying time.

After such an exciting Saturday it was hard to imagine Sunday could continue at the same rate. But the Mighty Boolahs of Valparaiso never disappoint. While qualifying more swimmers than the previous day to come back for finals the Boolahs also saw Radosivich qualify for the Senior State meet in the 200IM. Nathan Graf regained his magic in the breast stroke and showed he was ready to begin chasing down state cuts in his breastroke. The 10 & Unders continued their chase to get the most medals possible and were very successful at it. Max Isley shook off his nervous energy and swam a beautiful 50 freestyle, preparing himself for the Age Group State Meet later this month. Grace Cobble earned state cuts in the 50 free and 100back, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Holmes swam a spectacular 50free to end his first divisional meet. Hrosik continued his journey to the awards podium placing 8th in the 100back and 4th in the 50fly. Behrend stood tall with a 5th place finish in the 100back and placed 8th in the 50free. Lucy Cobble and Lizzie Simac ended their first divisional meet with amazing performances in the 100breast. In the last event of the afternoon Valparaiso Swim Club saw Cole St. Aubin continue his coming out party by winning the 100breast in a state qualifying time.

By the end of the weekend VSC was the roster for Senior State swell to 9 athletes, and the Age Group State lineup beefed up to 11 swimmers. Good luck at state Boolahs!!!