Western Albemarle’s boys swim team isn’t loaded with top-to-bottom talent like the Warriors’ girls squad. In fact, Western has a pretty obvious deficiency.
“You’ve got to use your strength and we don’t have (many) sprinters,” said Western coach Dan Bledsoe. “We decided to load up in the distance and gain points there.”
It worked. Western got a dominant all-around performance from Alex Rayle and a boost from a one-two-five finish in the 400-meter freestyle by Max Tempkin, Shiamao Wang and Meade Cogan to help hold off second place Charlottesville and win the Jefferson District title.
Rayle started his day swimming a leg for the second place 200-medley relay squad then won the 200-meter IM and the 100-meter butterfly before anchoring the 400-free relay team’s victory that closed out the meet. Western had to rally from behind on the final leg to pick up that win. Rayle accumulated the most points including the relays by any boys swimmer in the meet, barely edging out Ryan Mitchell who had a monster day for third place Monticello High.
“We’ve got great leadership in Alex Rayle, Josh Mandell and Shiamao Wang,” Bledsoe said. “They get the kids fired up so it’s a lot of fun to see the kids come together and win.”
Wang placed second behind Tempkin in the 400-free and grabbed a third in the 100-back behind Monticello’s Keenan Sochor who took first and Wang’s Western teammate Danny O’Dea in second. Tempkin added a second place in the 200-free to his 400-meter title in a strong performance by the freshman in his first Jefferson District meet.
Mitchell won both the 200-freestyle and 100-freestyle and also sparked Monticello to a first place finish in the 200-medley relay. The Mustangs’ star has several state cuts to his name and a chance to make an impact at the Group AA meet that’s coming up in February in Christiansburg. His teammate Sochor added a second place in the 100-fly to his 100-back victory to round out his solid performance.
Charlottesville’s Nathaniel Bullard earned Jefferson District swimmer of the year honors and won the 50-meter freestyle, placed third in the 100-free and helped CHS to third and fourth place finishes in two relays. Bullard’s performance helped boost Charlottesville to a second place finish a year after the Black Knights won the JD title.
Alex Thrift came up with a runner-up finish behind Rayle in the 200-IM and a third place in the 100-fly for the Black Knights.
Fluvanna County’s Bryce Campenelli won the diving portion of the boys meet held on Friday, slightly outpacing teammate Devon Stribling, who finished as the runner-up. Monticello’s Colin Mooney rounded out the top three in that event.
The Flucos picked up third place in the event as Trevor Hartwell took second in the 100-free, earning a state cut in the race. Hartwell has also qualified for the state meet in the dive and the 50-free, so he’ll have a decision to make with regards to event participation in Christiansburg. Fluvanna also got a boost from a strong performance in the 100-meter breaststroke by Ian Milburn who won the event and Austen Billingsley who took fourth. Billingsley, Hartwell, Milburn and Spencer Small also grabbed a second place in the 400-freestyle relay.
The Region II meet is slated for Saturday at in Warrenton.
