Atlee utilized their depth and talent to swim past Hanover last Thursday night at RMC’s Estes Aquatic Center by a combined point total of 239-83. The Atlee boys won with an impressive 120-46 over the Hawks and the Raider girls were even more impressive, getting the win 129-37.

  Yet, the focus was not so much on points as it was on each swimmer delivering his or her best in the senior night meet. Hence, there were some surprising outcomes from Hanover’s side in several of the events despite the lopsided score and Hanover coach Stuart Bernstein was pleased with his team’s performance. “We actually exceeded our expectations,” he said. “Kids really had a chance to improve their times and we got a couple that qualified for States.”

  For Atlee head coach Karen Seeber the meet was a matter of building on an outstanding performance at Kecoughtan.  “We had a surprise at Kecoughtan with the girls,” she said. “They won at Kecoughtan which is a big invitational with 22 or 23 teams.  They did an outstanding job.  The boys came in fifth.” 

  Sporting a roster of 56 swimmers, the Raiders took a hit last week against Maggie Walker when only 34 of their swimmers were well enough to compete.  “We had a lot of illness,” Seeber said.  “[Now] everybody’s back and we’re doing really well.” 

  So with a full roster of healthy swimmers, Seeber has high expectations for the Raiders as they prepare for Regionals on Feb. 11 at NOVA.  “We’re looking real strong for Regionals,” Seeber said. 

  The Raiders will also bring plenty of strength back with them next years as they lose only eight seniors to graduation this year.  “We’ve got a great girls’ young team; and the boys are still young too,” Seeber said.

  Seeber chose not to single anyone out for most improved swimmer.  “A lot of the freshmen are doing a really nice job,” she said.  “Actually, the whole team overall is doing a really nice job.  We’ve got a lot of staff.  We’ve been very fortunate.  I’ve been with the team, I think, eleven years or so.  I am really happy this year.  We’re just doing a really wonderful job.”

  With the post season rapidly approaching Seeber has high hopes.  “Barring any illness, we should do very well and hopefully have a lot of advancers to go to States,” she said.
 
  As part of the evening’s program, graduating seniors were recognized from both schools.  Of those, Austin Glass and Cameron Smith of Atlee plan to swim at their respective colleges of William & Mary and VMI.  Glass’s brother also goes to William & Mary, and Seeber has coached the two brothers for seven years.  Seeber also coached brothers Derrick and Taylor Carr.  Derrick is also graduating this year.

  Hanover freshman Steffen Erickson broke the team records in the 100 breast and 500 free while Sara Browning was a second away from breaking the 500 free record.

  One of the most exciting races of the evening came in the boys 500 free where
  Erikson battled Atlee’s Shane Condon.  The pair were neck-and-neck from the get-go and the race ended in a deafening crescendo of shouts and encouragement from fans and swimmers alike as Erikson finished three tenths of a second ahead of Condon with a time of 4:47:12.

  “It is exciting.  It’s fun when you get it like that,” Bernstein said. “We’ve had a lot of consistency in improvement [across the boards] and it’s been nice to see.”

  Not surprisingly, Erickson is among those who have consistently improved this season.  “Steffen is a ninth grader, yet he’s sitting here and beating seniors,” Bernstein said. “He just does a great job.  Sara Browning and Katrina Gauntt are sophomores.  They typically are our strongest female swimmers.”

  Browning took the 500 free event in 5:38:07, over five seconds faster than Atlee’s Molly Bernstein’s game plan for Regionals is simple. “We go in just with the expectation of improving our times; again, seeing how many people we can try to get qualified for States,” he said. “It’s a lot of good competition; but our Region tends to have a little bit slower regional cut times than regular state times, just because we don’t have a full [roster] like some of the northern Virginia schools or beach teams that have very large schools and can pull in a larger population for swimming.”

  Of Hanover’s graduating seniors, Matt Elliot intends to swim in college.  Elliot took first in the boys’ 200 IM and 100 fly for the evening.

  On January 21, the Lee-Davis girls downed Hanover 106-61 while the Confederate boys edged out the Hawks 96-89. Ironically, Hanover’s boys took first in all but two events but Lee-Davis’ depth racked up the points. Trevor Durbin in the 100 breaststroke and Jordan Witherow in the 200 medley claimed wins.

  For the girls, Jennifer Vieni picked up wins in the 200 and 100 free while Melissa Davis won the 50 free and 100 back to anchor a solid performance by the Confederates.