2009 Swimming Preview (with team capsules)

So how do you follow up a sophomore season in which you turned the Region 1-2A meet into your own personal highlight reel, finished third at the state in the 500 freestyle and earned Daily News Swimmer of the Year recognition?

If you’re Choctawhatchee’s Alex Strom, you spend the summer — the unofficial offseason for a high school swimmer — in the pool where you work to make the time required of Olympic swimmers in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Sure, the event is not one seen at a high school meet, but why let that get in the way of a good swim?

“Knowing the type of swimmer Alex is, it wasn’t that surprising,” Choctaw coach Jamie Garea said of her reaction to news that Strom had finished 16 seconds shy of the Olympic cut time this summer. “He works so, so hard. He’s the type of kid that you just expect great things.”

 Coaches at Fort Walton Beach, Navarre and Niceville have voiced similar expectations of their own swimmers as the 2009 season nears its official starting date on Monday. On the heels of a stellar overall showing in 2008 that was led by Fort Walton Beach, seemingly every school has reason for optimism in ’09.

At Fort Walton Beach, Pam Braseth’s Vikings enter the new campaign coming off one of the program’s finest efforts a year ago.

Fort Walton Beach’s boys finished third at state last season thanks in large part to a state title in the 4x200 freestyle relay — a team that returns nearly intact for this season — and served to punctuate a banner year for both the boys and girls swim teams.

“We’re really excited to have Josh (Simmons), David (Stevens) and Cody (Conant) back from last year’s gold medal team,” Braseth said. “They know what it takes to win a gold medal at state.”

That trio — along with the since graduated Jesse Simmons — also swam its way to a third-place finish in the 4x400 freestyle relay, doing so by turning in a county record time of 3:14.24 in the process. When all was said and done, the Viking boys had earned county, district and regional championships for the season while the girls were also county champions and finished district runner-up for the first time ever.

“That was a big accomplishment,” Braseth said.

Those big accomplishments have also served to raise the level of expectations for both Viking programs.

“We’re excited to be able to try to match or exceed last year’s accomplishments on both the girls side and the boys side,” Braseth said. “It’s going to take hard work, we do have some huge shoes to fill, but I think the swimmers we have here have the capabilities of doing it.”

And while the girls team was hit with losses — Logan Griffith, Jill Jacobson and Jess Gladstone have each graduated — regional divers Brooke Arrington and Nichole True return as does regional swimmer Paige Regelman. Also helping fortify the Vikings’ chances of picking up where they left off are two newcomers, Samantha Laughlin and Natalie Lenderman, both of whom are expected to be huge contributors in the backstroke and freestyle events, two areas in need of bolstering from a year ago.

At Choctaw, Ryan Adams, Christian Johnston, Michael Whitehurst and Patrick Whitehurst all swam at state with Strom last season while Cheryl Corvo and Olivia Strom advanced to the state’s premier event as well.

At Navarre, first-year coach Jason Rodgers’ roster includes a state performer in junior Chrissy Parsons, who finished seventh in the 100 breastroke and 14th in the 200 individual medley but otherwise is a relatively young group.

Of the 40 swimmers expected to compete for the Raiders this fall, 29 are listed as underclassmen.

“The seniors know they are going to have to push the younger kids,” Rodgers said. “We have our first meet next week with Fort Walton Beach and the younger swimmers will get their taste (of high school swimming) there.

“All of them seem to be coming along well. Hopefully we’ll do well.”

The newest addition to District 1-2A is Niceville, and while the Eagles return one state qualifier from a year ago in Ross Spock, second-year coach Kathy Ritacco faces more challenges ahead in her effort to rebuild the Niceville program. And while the competition will remain fierce, Ritacco believes the change in scenery will benefit the program in the long run.

“It came at a great time,” Ritacco said. “We lost a huge percentage of our team that was our stronger swimmers. We’re still in a rebuilding phase.”

SWIMMING CAPSULES:

Choctawhatchee

Coach: Jamie Garea

District: 1-2A

District opponents: Bay, Escambia, Fort Walton Beach, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Mosley, Navarre, Niceville, Pace, Pensacola, Pine Forest, Rutherford, Tate, Washington.

Returning athletes: Girls: Cheryl Corvo, Olivia Strom, Alyssa Sheffield, Jacque Schlageter, Lauren Mecke. Boys: Ryan Adams, Christian Johnston, Michael Whitehurst, Patrick Whitehurst, Alex Strom.

Others to watch: Girls: Mary Heapy, Jaide Lewis, Valerie Tucker. Boys: Kenny Hoskins.

Athletes lost: Girls: Megan Whitehurst, Kendall Carter. Boys: None reported.

Fort Walton Beach

Coach: Pam Braseth

District: 1-2A

District opponents: Bay, Choctawhatchee, Escambia, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Mosley, Navarre, Niceville, Pace, Pensacola, Pine Forest, Rutherford, Tate, Washington.

Returning athletes: Girls: Linsi VerSteeg, Jamie Gantert, Lacy Cassidy, Morgan McLaughlin, Chelsea Lomax, Erin Hunt, Savannah Tyree, Irene Rosa, Brooke Arrington, Nichole True, Paige Regelman. Boys: Peter Braseth, Robert Barkley, Joshua Simmons, David Stevens, Matt Bevil, Cody Conant, Daniel Craig, Levi Tippets, Taylor Parks, Kyle Williams, Josh Williams, Ian Mackenzie, Michael Braseth.

Others to watch: Girls: Samantha Laughlin, Natalie Lenderman, Megan Drake. Boys: Levi Wilke.

Athletes lost: Girls: Logan Griffith, Jill Jacobson, Jess Gladstone. Boys: Jesse Simmons.

Navarre

Coach: Jason Rodgers

District: 1-2A

District opponents: Bay, Choctawhatchee, Escambia, Fort Walton Beach, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Mosley, Niceville, Pace, Pensacola, Pine Forest, Rutherford, Tate, Washington.

Returning athletes: Girls: Jenn Barbee, Chrissy Parsons, Savannah Schuler, Chelsea Eagle, Kirsten Palmertree, Amber Traynor, Mariah Palpallotoc, Jessica Marshall, Emily Berteau, Sarah Townsend. Boys: David Bressler, K.J. Brustad, Chris Pearce, Mark Matechik, Thomas Vatter, Erin Begley, Michael Barbee, Chris Hodge, Forrest Kieffer, James Williamson, Justin Wymore, Andrew Brummett, Benny Brustad.

Others to watch: Girls: Teresa Parsons, Hannah Edwards, Katherine Bwoer, D’evelyn Wymore, Desiree DesJardins. Boys: Tyler Bare.

Athletes lost: Girls: Taylor Moorer, Tracy Miller, Amanda Travis, Cassie Miller. Boys: Lucas Crawford, Andrew Phillips, Greg Matechik, Tyler Barker, Matt Allen.

Niceville

Coach: Kathy Ritacco

District: 1-2A

District opponents: Bay, Choctawhatchee, Escambia, Fort Walton Beach, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Mosley, Navarre, Pace, Pensacola, Pine Forest, Rutherford, Tate, Washington.

Athletes returning: Girls: Alexis Elliott, Alexa Birmingham, Catie Carden, Ariel Hilton, Lyndsay Schwab, Haley McWilliams. Boys: Ross Spock, Dallas Montgomery, Hunter Myers, John Snell, William Slatery, Andy Birmingham.

Others to watch: Girls: None reported. Boys: Brad Ringler, Justin Broaderick.

Athletes lost: Girls: Linsey LeBeau, Brittany Ringler. Boys: Shelby Baumgartner, Christian Ritacco, JJ Ott, Ryan De Carlis, Jack Wohleber, Tyler Yanik.