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Hard to Swim Slow: Western boys swimming takes fifth-straight state title

Photo by Bart Isley

Somebody has to hold the lap counter pole for swimmers in the 500-meter freestyle that lets those competitors know what lap they are on in the race. It’s a menial task in a sport full of them. 

 

When Western Albemarle needed someone on the fly to fill that role while they were marching toward a fifth-straight state championship Friday night in the Class 4 state swim meet, Thomas Heilman didn’t hesitate. The Warriors’ incredibly talented freshman hustled over and grabbed the counter, helping a teammate swim their best race. 

 

“He’s bought into the team, you can count on Thomas to do that,” said Western coach Dan Bledsoe. “He’s going to stay late to make sure every teammate gets cheered on.”

 

For Bledsoe, that’s emblematic of the Warriors’ commitment to program building and tone setting that has helped Western continually incorporate swimmers who’ve lived in a largely individual environment into a team-first unit.

 

“We keep emphasizing family and family and family,” Bledsoe said. “We lift each other up and when you get that positive energy, it’s pretty hard to swim slow.”

 

When he wasn’t on lap counter duty, Heilman helped set or individually set four state records, leading two Western relays to titles and winning individual championships in the 50-free and 100-butterfly. That performance helped spark Western Albemarle to the boys program’s fifth straight state championship (the previous four came in Class 3) with an evisceration of the field that exceeded even Western’s own lofty expectations. The Warriors scored 409 points to outpace runner-up Blacksburg’s 213 points. That’s a lead so large that even if the runner-up Bruins and third place Jefferson Forest had combined scores they couldn’t have caught the Warriors.

 

“I think everybody bought in at the beginning and I think it helped us grow throughout,” said Western’s Matthew Heilman. 

 

While his younger brother was doing serious damage, the elder Heilman was also putting together a monster performance, winning the 200 IM, taking second in the 100 breaststroke, swimming the leadoff leg for the 200 free relay and a leg on the state runner-up 400 free relay.

 

That 200 free sprint relay that set a state record earned an explosive celebration from the group as the Heilmans, Richard Wang and Anthony Garono beat runner-up Atlee by almost two full seconds. 

 

“It was my first time here and you always want to win those relays, it’s always great for the team,” Thomas Heilman said. “We just wanted to have a really great race for the team.”

 

The most exciting race of the night was probably the ridiculously fast 50 free where Thomas Heilman ripped off a 19.91 time that obliterated the old meet record of 20.88. He also had to out touch Jefferson Forest’s Brendan Whifield who posted a 19.93 and teammate Sam Johnson who took third with a time of 21.05.  

 

Jackson Schundler, Jack Smith, Johnson and Wang all had big nights. Schundler took sixth in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 100-butterfly while also swimming on the title-winning 200 medley relay team. Johnson won the 100 freestyle, went third in the 50 free and swam on both the 200 medley and 400 free relays. Smith took third in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke and swam on both championship winning relays, the 200 free and 200 medley. Wang took ninth in the 200 free, sixth in the 100 free and swam on the 200 free relay unit. 

 

While that top of the line talent got it done, Western reached stratospheric scoring heights because of what the squad’s other swimmers did, maximizing their efforts in the morning prelims and setting up the Warriors to pile up points whether it was Thomas Olson, Henry Addison, Ryan Kennedy or Jonathan Alexander finding a way to contribute and go as fast as they possibly could. 

 

“Our second tier really, really stepped up tonight, making it into finals, dropping best times,” Bledsoe said. “Thomas Olson coming through in the 200 IM, the kid dropped 3.5 seconds, swam a lifetime best. Jonathan Alexander (too) — I can go on and on on the boys side of the kids who just dropped and kept going in. They just kept moving up.”

 

Travis Hitt took fourth in the 200 IM and fourth in the 500 free. Garono went third in the 500 free and sixth in the 200 free. Noah Johnson went seventh in the 100 backstroke and swam on that runner-up 400 free relay team. 

 

Western’s girls take fourth

 

Western Albemarle’s Julie Addison knew she had to bounce back. After getting barely out-touched in the 100 backstroke, the Warriors’ junior had to get ready for the 400 freestyle relay just minutes later.

 

“I didn’t want to bring others down, I wanted to do it for the team and it was the last swim,” Addison said. “We were outside smoke so I wanted to do it for them. I wanted the seniors to have a good last swim.”

 

Addison and her teammates stepped up in that final race, rocketing from the outside lane and an eighth-place finish in prelims to a state runner-up performance by Grace McCardle, Elke Beaumont, Annabeth Stancil and Addison. 

 

“The girls have really bonded this year and that last relay was super special,” Bledsoe said. “I’m so proud of Julie Addison, she was able to shake it off and come back here one event later and anchor that relay, it’s just phenomenal.”

 

Those kind of efforts all night helped Western’s girls swim team finish fourth in a loaded Class 4 girls field Friday night, with Monacan taking home the championship with 316 points while the Warriors finished behind Jamestown and Blacksburg with 215 points.  

 

Addison tacked on a second runner-up finish in the 200 IM to go with that backstroke second place, and she also swam on the Warriors’ third place 200 medley relay team. McCardle also had a huge day with a third place finish in the 100 free and a fourth in the 50 free. She also swam on the state runner-up 400 free relay and the third place 200 free relay. Elke Beaumont took 13th in the 50 free and 100 free while also swimming on the 200 and 400 free relay teams. 

 

Sophia Ma took 13th in the 100 breast and swam on the 200 medley team. Elle Schundler swam on the 200 medley and 200 free relays and also took seventh in the 100 fly and 12th in the 200 IM. Noa Steven took 12th in the 100 back and Sophia Garono took 16th in the 500 free. 

 

Louisa and Orange swimmers place

 

Louisa County’s Grace Hobbs took seventh in the diving portion of the state championships while Dyllan Hartman took 12th in the 100 freestyle. 

 

Orange County’s Charlotte Samuels took 11th in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 free. 

 

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