Sudley Seahorses Narrowly Win 24th PWSL Championship

Posted

The Sudley Seahorses defended their position as top team in the Prince William County Swim League for the 24th year, beating the Braemar Blasters by only 21 points.

After going undefeated in the divisional championship since 1989, the Seahorses of Sudley Swim Club in Manassas entered the 2013 Blue Division Championship Saturday with a 5-1 record. The Blasters proudly took credit for the only blemish on Sudley’s record, with a 51-point win over Sudley early in the regular season.

With this historic victory bolstering the undefeated 2013 Braemar Blasters, Coach Will Gideonse was determined to take his Bristow community team to victory, which he very nearly did.

However, Sudley was not about to give up easily. While community pools in Bristow have become serious centers for competitors, Coach Dennis Miller pushed his swimmers even harder to defend the Sudley legacy.

Braemar and Sudley were neck and neck most of the morning, but going into relays, Braemar had pulled slightly ahead. A rare tie between the Sea Lions and the Blasters in the boys 9-10 age group allowed those two teams to split the first place scores, which also bumped Sudley to second place in that race.

The scores remained close between Sudley and Braemar throughout the meet, but in the end, Sudley took the win by just 21 points.

Blue Division Championship scores were: Sudley Seahorses: 4,217.5, Braemar Blasters: 4,196.5 and Kingsbrooke Sea Lions: 3,108.

Sudley Seahorses:

Sudley swam its best times in 60 percent of their 600 races. They earned the league's top times in 11 divisional races.

Sudley’s Jamie Cornwell broke three league records in the girls 8-and-under division. This includes a 25-meter freestyle record held since 1988 by Veterans Park’s Stacey Ambrose with a time of 16.70, the 25-meter backstroke with a time of 19.63 and the individual medley with a score of 1:21.43. Her relay partners included Hayden Craft, Nate Klipp and Mary Pennefather.

Cornwell also had the top divisional times in butterfly with 18.90, and along with teammates Mary Pennefather, Sarah Purdy and Elizabeth Fowler, Cornwall broke the Sudley freestyle medley record with a time of 1:14.78.

Sam Pomejevich was the only boy to break a butterfly league record Saturday, setting a new record in the boys 13-14 age group with a time of 26.90. He also swam with Ben Klipp, Cameron Smith and Bobby Sherril to win the freestyle relay with a 1:49.96 time.

Pomajevich also earned the best time in the league in three of his other races as well: freestyle (25.59), backstroke (30.68) and medley relay (2:05.08) with Felix Seoh, Bobby Sherril and Ben Klipp as his relay partners.

The home team advantage was obvious. Fans sported bright green colors and chanted "Sudley, Sudley" as swimmers competed.

Parents and friends of the young swimmers stayed throughout the meet, and Sudley had zero no-shows on Saturday with children and parents sacrificing vacations to help the team maintain its winning streak.

Braemar Blasters Records:

While the Blasters did not reach their goal of becoming the new league champions, the competition helped them have one of their most successful meets ever, one in which they broke two league and 18 team records.

Orange Leaf Athlete of the Week Michael “Brayden” Rudd took time off his breaststroke, 35.22 from 34.95, to set a new butterfly league record for the 11-12 boys. Rudd also set a new league time of 1:10:22 in the individual medley with Emily Heidenreich, Joao Da Cruz and Matthew Zarbatany.

Fourteen-year-old Will Cumberland set three Blasters records for the 13-14 division in freestyle (25.78), butterfly (28.03) and the 200-meter individual medley (1:03.78) with relay partners Brendan Murphy, Alexander George and Austin Wydajewski.

Meanwhile, Justin Doyle set three Braemar records. In the male 15-18 division, Doyle set times for backstroke (28.27), fly (27.34.) and 200-meter relay (1:56.22) with Sam Maranto, Thomas Scott and Luke Cumberland.

Among the 8-and-under boys, Conner Adrian set a new team breaststroke record (22.62) and Ryan Beckman set the new butterfly record (19.05.) The 8-and-under boys also beat their time in a 100-meter relay (1:14.65) with swimmers Logan Grant, Conner Adrian, Matthew Santee and Ryan Beckman.

Swimmer 14-year old Jenna Ashley swam the 50-meter backstroke for girls 13-14 in 34.30 for a new team record.

Swimmers who broke their own records include Allie Adrian, Tessa Bacon, Nathan George, Sarah Gully, Kate Henley, Mary Grace O’Donnell, Bryan Rudd, Caelainn Welsh and Austin Wydajewski.

Kingsbrooke Sea Lions:

Led by Coach Tessa Jarrett, the Sea Lions hoped to improve some of their records, while facing two tough competitors

“We knew it was going to be a match between Braemar and Sudley, but we were able to really play the wild card where we could take away points,” Jarrett said.

It was in the girls 9-10 division where the Sea Lions really made their mark.

Orange Leaf Athlete of the Week Josie Helpard set a new Sea Lions’ record in the girls 9-10 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 45.85, whereas Mary Avera broke 39.23 in the backstroke, and Kelly Morgan set a new fly record of 31.79.

Helpard and Avera swam with Madison Williams and Abby Daniels in the freestyle relay for a new Sea Lion record of 1:05.85. Dori Hochard, Hannah Conway, Carralyne Speicher and Lindsey Blake timed 1:01.14 in the 11-12 girls freestyle relays.

Jarrett said it was a great experience for her team, and it was fun to be the wild card in the competition.

braemar-blasters, bristow, champions, championship, division, featured, full-image, kingsbrooke-sea-lions, manassas, prince-william-swim-league, sudley-seahorses, sudley-swim-club, swim