Area teams ready for district swimming

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

Florida Freedom Newspapers
(850) 315-4476 | travisd@nwfdailynews.com

Both the District 1-2A and 1-3A swimming meets get underway tonight but, for those competing with hopes of advancing to the finals in mid-November, the preparation began in earnest weeks ago, and not all of it took place inside the pool.

Mental preparation, Choctawhatchee coach Jamie Garea said, can sometimes make all the difference.

"We feel like they're prepared physically," Garea said. "We've cut back on their workouts a little bit and worked on speed drills and also talked to them about strategy and being mentally prepared."

"You have to visualize your race," Garea added. "It's like with anything else, you have to think positive."

Or, as the Fort Walton Beach girls' motto says, "Go big or go home".

Choctawhatchee, Fort Walton Beach and Navarre will take to the pool in today's District 1-2A meet on the campus of the University of West Florida (9 a.m.) while Niceville swims in the District 1-3A meet at Cecil Aquatics (9 a.m.).

For each, the goal remains the same: swim on to regionals.

But doing so can prove tricky.

"Everybody's gunning for that top-eight," Fort Walton Beach coach Pam Braseth said. "When hundredths of seconds separate them all, it's going to be a great meet."

"We have had state level times on the relays and not made it out of our region," Braseth added. "In our district, swimming has gotten very, very fast."

She would know.

The Vikings enter today's meet having swept the County Championships and return several swimmers who did well at districts a year ago.

Already Brooke Arrington and Nicole True have earned berths to regionals after finishing first and third, respectively, in Wednesday night's diving competition.

Today, the Fort Walton Beach boys will be led once again by Josh and James Simmons who last year each finished in the top eight in the 50 free while also spearheading the 400 free relay team to a first-place finish.

That relay success was also evident on the girls' side as all three Vikings' relay teams advanced to the regional.

Navarre's girls team returns Taylor Moorer, who last year reached regionals in the 500 free, while Christen Parsons finished second at state in the 100 breaststroke.

The boys will look to a trio of seniors in Lucas Crawford, Greg Matachiek and Andrew Phillips to continue to provide the type of leadership coach Lauris Joyner pointed to as having a positive impact on this year's team.

"They're swimming really well right now and putting in some good times," Joyner said. "I think that will pay off for them."

Choctaw tuned up for today's meet with a pair of wins over the Raiders, as the Indians received strong swims from a host of familiar faces in Alex - a state qualifier a year a go - and Olivia Strom.

"They've been pretty dominant in the pool all year long," Garea said.

So too have the likes of Cheryl Corvo (100 backstroke), who joined Alex Strom as a state qualifier last season, and the Indians' relay teams which last year sent all six to regionals, a feat Garea hopes Choctaw can match yet again today.

Niceville's Ross Spock will similarly look to build off a strong showing in last year's district meet where he earned two second-place finishes and a pair of 5-seedings in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke while the girls are led by Emily Voight, who a year ago helped power the Eagles' 200 medley relay team.