The meet was over, and the boys waited to see their results. They didn’t know what to expect. Each was confident in their times and what they placed and hoped that it was enough to win regionals. The team held their breath as their head coach, Tony Tullbane, added up their scores. The team exclaimed in victory and jokingly pushed their head coach into the pool when they learned that they won regionals.
The varsity boys’ swim team won first place in their regionals meet at Wilkerson Greinds Natatorium on February 13 and 14. The first place marked the end of the boys’ season and ended them on a high note.
“It was a great way to end the season especially since this is my last year,” senior, J.D. Canclini said. “It also feeds the sophomores by giving them good motivation since we’re moving to 5A next year.”
The boys were seated first preceding the 200 medley relay with the time they submitted prior to the meet. Competing in this event were senior, J.D. Canclini and sophomores, James Copeland, Clark Blanton and JonPaul Canclini. They ended up finishing sixth in the race. However, the time difference between first and sixth was less than a second.
“Of course we would have liked to have done better, but it felt good knowing we got sixth in the whole region,” J.D. Canclini said. “It just hurt to come so close and to not get it.”
Each of the boys also contributed points with what they placed in their individual events. JonPaul had his fastest time in a meet in the 100 fly, finishing in a little over a minute as well as the 200 individual medley. Swimmers and events that gave Legacy the most points were Blanton in the 100 back stroke and 50 freestyle, J.D. in the 100 breast stroke, Collins in the 500 freestyle, and Copeland in the 100 breast stroke and 200 individual medley. Sophomore, Ian Haemker contributed the most points to the team with his high scoring in diving. Each swimmer’s score was tallied up and submitted into one final score of 250 points, which won the men’s team first place in regionals.
“It was surprising,” J.D. Canclini said. “I didn’t expect it until the end of the meet when coach was counting up all of our numbers and said that we won.”
