Metea Valley looks to start the girls swimming season strong as the Mustangs get set to compete in their first home meet of the season. They welcome the Benet Academy Redwings for the annual early season matchup against a team that is looking to continue its start strong after beating Mother McAuley. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Benet soars early in the relays
This meet starts with everyone’s favorite race, the 200-yard medley relay. Benet’s group of Gisele Buchar, Caroline Shepard, Abby Wojcik, and Maddy Novak are in a tight battle early on but pull away ahead of Metea Valley group of Elle Chua, Kyra Henkle, Addison, and Molly Schalk by five seconds.
To the 200-yard freestyle we go and it’s another close pack of swimmers right away. What looks to be close early on turns into cruise control mode for Metea’s Emily Schalk, swimming her way to the wall with a time of two minutes and four seconds. Teammates Sarah Voakes and her sister Molly Schalk finish right behind her.
New and familiar faces leading the charge for the Redwings
Rolling to the 200-yard IM and state qualifier Imogen Duffy is back for another year. Here she is in the water in a neck-and-neck battle with Metea’s Allison Leslie, but Duffy pulls away in the end and wins this event as well the 500-yard freestyle later in the race.
We turn on the jets with the 50-yard free. Lucy Rooney, who played with the Redwing volleyball team last season is now testing out her skills on the swim team. I’d say she found her grove in the pool as she and teammates Clare Donnelly and Gisele Buchar go one-two-three in the fastest race of the night.
Metea takes over late
Back to another relay, the 200-yard freestyle edition. The Mustangs turn on turbo mode with Schalk sisters, Leslie, and Voakes. The winning time for the Metea group is one minute and forty-three seconds.
Time to step back to the individual races. In the 100-yard butterfly Mustang, Allison Leslie is back for her senior year ready to make a big splash and she does so in this race. Teammate Emily Schalk tries to catch up to her but Leslie gets to the wall in the top spot. Two Mustangs finish in first and second.
From the fly to the free, and still at the 100 yard distance. The black and gold get some late pushes, and Addison Bludgen continues to help her squad. Thanks to the late efforts Metea Valley girls swimming slips by Benet Academy in a very competitive matchup to start the season on a high note, winning 97-86.
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