Shelli Reed clocks 24.22 in 50 free, 51.95 in 100 free at
CCS
SANTA CLARA
Something should be said for Shelli Reed and the San Benito High swimming and diving team. Although it didn’t end the 2009 season perhaps the way it wanted to, then again, it did.
“We do better as a team,” San Benito head coach Christine Schafer said. “These kids care more about the team than the individual. Not that they don’t want to succeed, because they do. But they put it all in for the team.”
And for the team, a pair of hard-earned, hard-fought Tri-County Athletic League titles in both the boys and girls divisions. But going all out at last week’s TCAL Championships in Salinas may have left the Haybalers worn out, with little left for last weekend’s CIF-Central Coast Section Swimming and Diving Championships in Santa Clara.
“It is hard and you’re drained and you’re tired,” said Reed of the quick turnaround, from league to section finals. “But you try and suck it up, and you have to dig in and find it in yourself to go faster.”
Reed was the lone San Benito representative to advance past Friday’s preliminaries of the CCS Championships in Santa Clara when she qualified to Saturday’s A-Final in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.
Clocking a 24.22 to take eighth place in the 50 free, as well as a 51.95 to take seventh in the 100 free, Reed said she was hoping to improve upon the times she set during Friday’s prelims – a 24.08 and a 51.91 in the 50 and 100, respectively, both of which were personal records.
But while Reed is admittedly hard on herself, Schafer felt she did great, finishing her prep career as one of the top swimmers in her class.
“It’s tough,” Schafer said of the turnaround. “But all things considered, she gave her best times on Friday, came back fairly strong on Saturday, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Said Reed, “I mean, it was all-around my best times, but it’s the end of the season and I was hoping to take time off, or at least more time than I did.”
The CCS Championships, which were held at the famed Santa Clara International Swim Center, saw triple-digit temperatures Saturday, as well as a slew of CCS records shattered. With many competitors outfitted in the latest full-body swimsuits, including Speedo’s LZR Racer, records were set in 13 of the 22 events.
Meanwhile, the ‘Baler boys brought Brandon Drogemuller, Ryan Whiteside and Matt McCullough, as well as the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams to Friday’s prelims, but couldn’t advance past the first stage.
Whiteside recorded a 1:52.56 in the 200 free to take 55th place, while McCullough finished in 47th with a 23.25 in the 50 free.
San Benito’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Drogemuller, Whiteside, McCullough, Jordan Schafer and Kyle Reuther recorded a 1:32.96 to take 30th, while the 400 free relay team timed a 3:26.80 to take 25th.
Drogemuller competed in a pair of individual events in the prelims as well, recording a 55.90 in the 100-yard butterfly (40th place) and a 4:49.79 in the 500 free to take 21st, although the Lewis University-bound swimmer was battling with an illness last week, and Schafer said he was not 100 percent on Friday.
The Lady ‘Balers, meanwhile, qualified Celina Stotler, Demi Gatrell, Lacey Larson and all three relays.
Stotler recorded a 1:00.65 (27th place) and Gatrell a 1:01.79 (33rd) in the 100 fly, while Stotler also clocked a 5:39.24 in the 500 free to take 45th and Gatrell a 1:13.39 in the 100-yard breaststroke to take 45th as well. Teammate Lacey Larson, also competing in the 500 free, finished in 43rd with a 5:36.02.
San Benito’s 200-yard medley relay of Reed, Gatrell, Stotler, Larson, Jessica Drogemuller, Melissa Pelletier and Kelsey Larson recorded a 1:56.79 to take 21st; the 200-yard freestyle relay of Pelletier, Mary Hernandez, Sarah Kelso, Drogemuller and the Larsons clocked a 1:57.12 to take 43rd; and the 400-yard free relay of Gatrell, Pelletier, Reed, Stotler, Drogemuller and the Larsons timed a 3:52.16 to take 19th.
While Reed was the only swimmer to advance to day two, the season was a success, no doubt. Although San Benito didn’t perform to its liking at the CCS Championships, its performance at the TCAL Championships will be the lasting memory. In fact, Schafer said she couldn’t remember the last time both the boys and girls teams took TCAL titles.
“We’re a very close team and we wanted to pull through with a TCAL (title), so we put a lot into that,” Reed said. “We just didn’t have as much left as we hoped (for CCS).”
