Yellow Jackets split tri-meet with Lexington, CSG

GAMBIER — It was a fast meet for the Mount Vernon High School swim team, and its last showing at home. That’s how MVHS head swimming coach Kris Caldwell described Tuesday night’s tri-meet with the Lexington Minutemen and the Columbus School for Girls. Lexington finished the meet with 203 points, beating both the Yellow Jackets (136) and CSG (43).

“It was fast,” said Caldwell. “I didn’t know what to expect; we haven’t had a meet against Lexington or Columbus School for Girls in the four years I’ve been coaching.”

Mount Vernon’s boys team earned 67 points and the girls team captured 69. The Minutemen took 13 first-place finishes and placed second 14 times between the girls and the boys teams. The Yellow Jackets girls team won five races and came in second three times. The boys team captured four first-place finishes and swam for four second-place finishes. CSG, coached by former Yellow Jacket swimmer Jennifer Briley, held its own as it competed against some fast competition, scoring in 14 races with five third-place finishes.

“I was very impressed with Lexington, they have some very good swimmers,” said Caldwell. “They definitely challenged our swimmers a lot. It was a good meet.”

The Yellow Jackets have been conditioning hard during their holiday break, preparing to race against strong competition.

“We had a really hard practice Saturday and actually some really good-quality swimming during these two weeks of Christmas training,” Caldwell said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but usually, the way it goes is, there are some very tired swimmers and some that pop out — some really good surprise swims.

“All of our new freestylers were improving their times today,” added Caldwell. “Our new swimmers seem to be improving because it’s a natural thing to do. And some of our more experienced swimmers are swimming a little bit tired.”

For the girls, senior Emily Smith knocked off 12 seconds on her 50-yard freestyle, for a personal best of 27.39. Junior Sarah Freshwater swam the 500-yard freestyle almost 30 seconds faster, earning her a second-place finish (6:03.34). Freshman Sarah Baughman scored points for her team and raced a personal best in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in fifth place with a time of 1:31.76. Junior Kellyn Caldwell swam a 23.97 split in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

“That’s really good that she broke 24 seconds,” said coach Caldwell. “That’s quite an impressive swim.”

For the boys, freshman Ian Richardson placed first in the 200- and the 500-yard freestyle (2:04.24 and 5:32.30, respectively). Sophomore Jack Tokarsky swam a personal best in the 100-yard freestyle and placed first with a time of 59.10. Austin Jamieson also swam a personal best in the 100-yard freestyle for third place (1:00.19).

The Yellow Jackets will be working hard on their individual races now, concentrating on the which events each swimmer will participate in for the championships.

“From here on out, our season will be focusing on those specialty races,” coach Caldwell said. “It will be a lot of quality swimming, race-pace swimming, and just figuring out what the championship races will be for each swimmer and focusing on those races.”

The Yellow Jackets’ next meet is away against Columbus Academy on Saturday at 11 a.m.