Cougars outswim Union Mine for dual win
EL DORADO'S Andrew Coen took first place in the 100 yard freestyle event. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
Unless you had a prime spot under one of the many Easy-Up tents that ringed El Dorado High’s swimming pool or a decent umbrella, chances were you didn’t avoid the driving rain at Wednesday’s Sierra Valley Conference swim meet between the host Cougars and Union Mine.
While bystanders were forced to cover up, it was business as usual for the swimmers. In the end, El Dorado came away with the sweep: its girls dominating 122-48 while the boys matchup was much closer yet still in the Cougars’ corner by an 88-81 score. El Dorado went unopposed at the JV level.
The El Dorado girls swept all events. Ellen Tiedemann, Kaela Marcus and Rose Christeson each won two races and all three swam on winning relay teams. Haley Owens was in on all three relay victories while Marissa Garcia partook in two relay wins and placed first in the 200 individual medley.
“It was nice to see our girls win every race today. These girls are working really hard every week and it really shows in how fast we are becoming,” Cougar coach Marc Hughes said. “Our confidence is growing with each meet and I think by the end of the season we will have a great shot at winning league champs”
El Dorado, after last week’s close loss to Vista del Lago, evened its SVC record to 1-1. The D’backs suffered their first dual setback after the boys defeated Liberty Ranch 90-80 and the girls came up just short to the Lady Hawks 86-83.
The Union Mine boys, led by double-winner Jason Williams, almost made it two straight league wins but the Cougar boys, featuring Andrew Coen, Matt Coen, Daniel Pope and Mac Guinn pulled out the win. Halfway through El Dorado trailed by 10 points before winning out the rest of the way.
“Very exciting today — it was a lot closer than I thought it would be,” Hughes said. “Union Mine deserves a lot of credit. They came out strong and were really tough to handle. I’m really proud of the way our boys fought back.”
Last week against Liberty Ranch, Grady Lynch and Williams won both of their events with sectional qualifying times in each. Lynch posted a 1:56.97 in the 200 freestyle and 50.92 in the 100 while Williams record a personal best in the 200 IM in 2:13 87 and 58.35 in the 100 butterfly. Wyatt Hasemeier, a freshman, swam to first place in the 500 free in 6:40.9. On the girl’s side, Caffrey Lynch another freshman, took first in the 200 free in 2:13.97 and won the 100 backstroke in 1:10.11.
“We have a great group of kids that want to swim this year. We are finding new things they are capable of all the time and we should improve,” Union Mine coach Steve Skidmore said. “Some of them are coming into the sport with zero experience so it’s a learning process for them. I look for Jason, Grady, and Caffrey to qualify for the sectional meet.”
Below are Wednesday’s first-place finishers and their times.
Varsity girls
200 medley relay: 1-Kaela Marcus, Haley Owens, Marissa Garcia, Ellen Tiedemann,ED, 2:02.59; 200 free: 1-Rose Christeson, ED, 2:09.58; 200 IM: 1-Garcia, ED, 2:27.46; 50 free: 1-Tiedemann, ED, 26.63; 100 fly: 1-Marcus, ED, 1:12.75; 100 free: 1-Tiedemann, ED, 57.79; 500 free: 1-Christeson, ED, 5:44.09; 200 free relay: 1-Christeson, Garcia, Shelby Ganzert, Tiedemann, ED, 1:51.68; 100 back: 1-Marcus, ED, 1:10.31; 100 breast: 1-Owens, ED, 1:10.97; 400 free relay: 1-Owens, Marcus, Hannah Covington, Christeson, ED, 4:11.01.
Varsity boys
200 medley relay: 1-Grady Lynch, Warda, Williams, Stevenson, UM, time n/a; 200 free: 1-Lynch, UM, 1:56.44; 200 IM: 1-Jason Williams, UM, 2:14.73; 50 free: 1-Daniel Pope, ED, 23.23; 100 fly: 1-Williams, UM, 58.66; 100 free: 1-Andrew Coen, ED, 51.42; 500 free: 1-Matt Coen, ED, 5:35.36; 200 free relay: 1- Pope, Mac Guinn, Michael Webb, A. Coen, ED, 1:40.57; 100 back: 1-Guinn, ED, 1:03.70; 100 breast: 1-Matt McNicholas, ED, 1:16.35; 400 free relay: 1-Pope, Guinn, M. Coen, A. Coen, ED, 3:34.61.
Contact Jerry Heinzer at 530-344-5074 or jheinzer@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @JHeinzerMtDemo on Twitter.
EL DORADO’S Andrew Coen took first place in the 100 yard freestyle event. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
UNION MINE AND EL DORADO girls swimmers push off to start the 200 backstroke event at Wednesday’s meet in cougar territory. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
UNION MINE’S Grady Lynch took first place in the 200 freestyle event. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
MARCOS WARDA swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay to help Union Mine win this heat over El Dorado. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
EL DORADO’S Hannah Covington swims the breaststroke in the 200 individual medley race. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
ELLEN TIEDEMANN jumps off the block to start the 50 yard freestyle. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
MAC GUINN kept the lead throughout to win for El Dorado in the 100 backstroke event. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
Jerry Heinzer
Last Login | Wed Jun 19 09:45:14 2013
Jerry Heinzer is going on 12 years as an employee of the Mountain Democrat and is currently the Sports Editor. Contact Jerry at 530-344-5074 or jheinzer@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @ JHeinzerMtDemo on Twitter.
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