This story mentions several of our Barracuda swimmers as well as Coach Nell Hess!

http://www.cherokeetribune.com/view/full_story/269...

Depth high for Woodstock swim teams

by Alex Resnak
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November 28, 2015 01:30 AM | 1112 views | 0 | 1 | |

The 2014-15 swimming and diving season was one filled with individual and team success for Cherokee county teams.
The county claimed three individual state titles, to go with a pair of top-15 team finishes. While much of that talent has been lost to graduation, plenty of skilled swimmers remain to give the county hope for another strong performance at the state meet in April.

Woodstock seems to be in good position on both the boys and girls sides, as it returns most of its top swimmers.
Lauren Case is back after winning a pair of state championships, joined by Kailey Austin, who scored in two events at state a year ago. Two-time defending county backstroke champion Jaclyn Csubak also returns to lead a team that placed 11th in the state last year.

“Our girls seem to be set up pretty nicely,” Woodstock coach J.T. Gillin said. “We really weren’t swimming our best last year, and we finished 11th. Certainly, it would be nice to have a top-10 finish on that side. In county, our girls are so deep, I’d like to believe they’re pretty heavy favorites to be county champions again.”

On the boys side, an injury to Michael McDowell could set Woodstock back a bit, but it still has strength at the top of its lineup. Chase Moore, defending county champion in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles, returns, along with Matt Wiessel and Josh Thrift. The Wolverines’ success will likely hinge on Michael Gustafson filling in for McDowell in the relays.

“For the boys, it’s hard for me to know what’s going on right now,” Gillin said. “We lost three seniors, so our numbers are hurting, but I think county will be more interesting because of it. I think we’ll hang pretty close, but it will be a tall order to beat Etowah and River Ridge. They’re just stacked with depth this year we don’t have.”

River Ridge has the largest team it’s ever had, with 41 swimmers. The Knights, however, may struggle some with depth on the boys side, because 26 of the swimmers are on the girls team.

“The expectations I have for our boys are really high,” River Ridge coach Sarah Goodbread said. “Our boys are looking really strong this year, but we just don’t have the depth. We only have 15, which could hurt us with the numbers, but the ones we do have are very strong.”

Brian Octavec is expected to lead the team and has already qualified for state in three events. Brad and Jackson Burke and Brian Biddiscombe have also qualified for state.

On the girls team, only Chantal La Flamme has clinched a state berth thus far, but Goodbread said several new swimmers have already shown promise.

“Talent is still the biggest thing,” she said. “We can’t compete with the larger schools without numbers, though. It’s really exciting to have the numbers this year, where we can fill multiple relay spots.”

Etowah also has reason to be excited about this season based on the size of its roster, even if most of the swimmers are new.

“We have a whole bunch of new swimmers this year,” coach Virginia Diederich said. “We have about 25 new swimmers, so this early in the season, it’s hard to know what to expect out of everybody. I’ve seen some good things, so far, out of some swimmers, so that’s good. It’s a wait-and-see kind of thing.”

While a large chunk of the roster is inexperienced, Etowah still has plenty of talent at the top. Sophomores Joey and Jonathan Young are coming off strong freshman seasons and have already qualified for state. Senior Robert Zamorano has also qualified for state, along with his freshman sister, Lilly.

Sequoyah is coming off a surprise fifth-place finish for the girls team a season ago in the Class A-AAAAA state championships.
“Last year, we certainly started a rebuilding phase, and we are definitely continuing along those lines,” coach Nell Hess said. “We had a group of young swimmers join who turned in such great performances that the girls came in fifth in the state. We lost one to deciding not to swim, and another due to graduation. The remaining girls are getting faster and looking great in the water, so I’m cautiously hopeful that they will do well at the end of the season as a group.”

Hannah Becker and Brianna Saez have already qualified for state in relays, while Rachel Renner has also qualified for a relay and in diving, where she placed sixth last year. Kamryn Carter, Ansley Davis, Kristina Friedrichs, Sophie Roy and Jordan Weems are also expected to contribute.

The boys team will be led by seniors Nick Duclos, Jack Murray, Austin Morrison and Kyle Renner. Hess said she has also seen a lot of promise from Daniel Gordon and new swimmers Tanner Perry and Dalton Trampnau.

“We have had some injuries on the boys side, and I hope those will resolve soon,” Hess said. “If so, I anticipate the boys qualifying for states in relays and, possibly, a few individual events. All in all, we are a smaller team this year but have a lot of strengths.”

For Creekview, Emily Snyder, Michelle McCord and Anna Knowlton are back to build off last season’s 25th-place finish, and Garrett Dempsey returns to lead the boys team.

Kayla Nash and Kaitlyn Morris are back for Cherokee’s girls team, while Ty Dangerfield will look to lead the boys side to a better finish.