Rochester girls, boys swimmers return from break, beat Culver

Miller wins 100, 200 free; Wachtmann, Hamilton, Nicholson also win 4 blue ribbons each

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester’s Riplee Snyder Culver’s Mitch Ramski

The Rochester girls and boys swimming teams returned from their typically laborious Winter Break practice schedules to defeat Culver and South Central (Union Mills) at the Rochester Middle School pool Tuesday.

Rochester scored 100 points while Culver and South Central had 12 each in the girls meet.

Rochester beat Culver 79-20 in the boys meet. South Central does not have a boys team.

Culver has four swimmers – two girls and two boys.

Rochester won eight of the 12 events in the girls meet, including all three relays in which they swam unopposed. Aubrey Miller won four blue ribbons, including the 100 and 200 freestyles. She also swam a leg on the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Other Rochester individual event winners included Kylie Haselby in diving, Audrey Widman in the 100 butterfly and Riplee Snyder in the 100 breaststroke.

Summer Tyler and Lily Chipps joined Miller and Widman on the 200 medley relay. Jenna Seuferer and Layla Tyler joined Snyder and Chipps on the 200 freestyle relay. In addition to Miller, the 400 freestyle relay also consisted of Widman, Summer Tyler and Snyder.

Miller is the only senior in the Rochester swimming program.

“They were a little bit slower than her season bests,” Rochester coach Stephanie Brown said of Miller’s times. “But we just came out of a really tough Christmas break… where the kids have two-a-days. We didn’t really expect a lot of season or even lifetime PRs today just because of how tired they are from all that work they put in. So it’s pretty normal to not see a lot of PRs coming right out of Christmas break, and we explained that to the kids. We’ll see a couple, but we’ve put in all this hard work, and we’ll see the fast times at conference and sectionals.”

Brown also complimented Snyder and Chipps, who finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 individual medley. Brown also noted that Chipps also took off 30 seconds from her personal best in the 500 freestyle while Savannah Gudas took off 45 seconds from her previous best in the 500 freestyle.

Summer Tyler also got her 200 freestyle time down to 2:47.03 in challenging Miller. Layla Tyler cut her 50 freestyle personal best down to 36.75 seconds.

Hayden Lute, the Culver senior who signed with Albion College earlier in the day, won both the 50 freestyle and 500 freestyle.

Lute specializes in the distance freestyle events.

“She did great,” Culver first-year coach Brian Martin said of Lute’s 6:01.58 in the 500 freestyle. “She’s right where we’re at. We’re still building on a couple things. I’m confident she’s going to have a big drop come conference and sectional.”

Mallory Rinker, the lone swimmer representing South Central, won both the 200 individual medley in 2:43.06 and the 100 backstroke in 1:18.93.

The closest race of the night occurred in the boys 50 freestyle, where Rochester freshman Tyson Wachtmann edged Culver sophomore Mitch Ramski by 0.04 seconds – 24.54 to 24.58 – for the win with a last lunge to the wall.

Wachtmann also won the 500 freestyle in 5:26.73, a new personal record, and swam legs on the victorious 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.

“He’s got some pretty lofty goals going into the postseason,” Brown said. “So we’re working through strategy on how to swim the 500. We told him to go out in his first 100 in under a minute, and he did a 57. He wanted to go a little faster in the rest of the race, but it just wasn’t there because his body’s tired. He still got a lifetime PR, but we’re doing some different things with how he swims his events based on what his end-of-season goals are. But he did really well.”

Of the 10 boys events that were contested, Rochester won eight with Wachtmann, Tanner Hamilton and Brevin Nicholson winning four blue ribbons each.

Hamilton won the 200 individual medley in 3:25.86 – he was swimming the event for the first time – and the 100 breaststroke in a personal best 1:42.24. Nicholson took the 200 freestyle in 2:16.75 and the 100 backstroke in 1:13.57.

“He’s built some muscle and some confidence, and he’s just gotten stronger and filled out a little bit,” Brown said. “He’s becoming a pretty solid athlete as far as that goes. And he practices every day with Tyson, and it’s making him better.”

Joshua Seuferer joined Nicholson, Hamilton and Wachtmann on the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Brown also noted that Aaron Furrow took off nine seconds off his 50 freestyle personal best and that Seuferer swam a 7:17.27 in his first ever 500 freestyle.

“Everybody loves Josh,” Brown said. “He’s a great kid. He’s got a good attitude, and he gets in the water every day and is just a workhorse. He’s hilarious, and everybody loves Josh.”

Culver winners included Ramski, who won the 100 butterfly unopposed in 1:05.50; and sophomore Arian Day, who claimed the 100 freestyle in 1:11.44.

Day also finished second behind Rochester’s Nicholson in the 200 freestyle in 2:31.55, but his time was a new school record.

“I think he’s right where he needs to be,” Martin said of Ramski in the butterfly. “He had some time off during break. ... His butterfly looks good. … He swam that back-to-back after the 50, so he was still a little gassed.”

Diving and the 200 freestyle relay were not contested in the boys meet.

Martin is in his first season as Culver’s coach. A graduate of Lockport Township High School in Lockport, Ill., he later swam at the College of DuPage. His wife Julie is the assistant coach.

Martin is also Culver’s student resource officer.

Girls results: Rochester 100, Culver 12, South Central (Union Mills) 12

Scoring on 6-4-3-2-1 basis for individual events and 8-4-2 basis for relays

Winners plus all Rochester and Culver results

200 medley relay

1. Rochester (Summer Tyler, Lily Chipps, Audrey Widman, Aubrey Miller) – 2:26.90, 2. Rochester (Kylie Haselby, Savannah Gudas, Jenna Seuferer, Layla Tyler) – 2:47.67

200 freestyle

1. Aubrey Miller (RHS) – 2:43.43, 2. Summer Tyler (RHS) – 2:47.03

200 individual medley

1. Mallory Rinker (SC) – 2:43.06, 2. Riplee Snyder (RHS) – 3:07.02, 3. Lily Chipps (RHS) – 3:08.97

50 freestyle

1. Hayden Lute (CUL) – 27.24 seconds, 2. Audrey Widman (RHS) – 32.77, 3. Savannah Gudas (RHS) – 36.42, 4. Layla Tyler (RHS) – 36.75

Diving

1. Kylie Haselby (RHS) – 127.05 points

100 butterfly

1. Audrey Widman (RHS) – 1:29.25, 2. Jenna Seuferer (RHS) – 1:46.82

100 freestyle

1. Aubrey Miller (RHS) – 1:10.94, 2. Layla Tyler (RHS) – 1:25.86

500 freestyle

1. Hayden Lute (CUL) – 6:01.58, 2. Lily Chipps (RHS) – 7:18.42, 3. Savannah Gudas (RHS) – 8:08.67

200 freestyle relay

1. Rochester (Jenna Seuferer, Riplee Snyder, Layla Tyler, Lily Chipps) – 1:57.15

100 backstroke

1. Mallory Rinker (SC) – 1:18.93, 2. Summer Tyler (RHS) – 1:30.89, 3. Jenna Seuferer (RHS) – 1:46.66

100 breaststroke

1. Riplee Snyder (RHS) – 1:39.14

400 freestyle relay

1. Rochester (Audrey Widman, Summer Tyler, Riplee Snyder, Aubrey Miller) – 4:53.74

Boys results: Rochester 79, Culver 20

Scoring on 6-4-3-2-1 basis for individual events and 8-4-2 basis for relays

Winners plus all Rochester and Culver results

200 medley relay

1. Rochester (Brevin Nicholson, Tanner Hamilton, Tyson Wachtmann, Joshua Seuferer) – 2:20.87

200 freestyle

1. Brevin Nicholson (RHS) – 2:16.75, 2. Arian Day (CUL) – 2:31.55, 3. Lucas Scorsone (RHS) – 3:07.25

200 individual medley

1. Tanner Hamilton (RHS) – 3:25.86

50 freestyle

1. Tyson Wachtmann (RHS) – 24.54 seconds, 2. Mitch Ramski (CUL) – 24.58, 3. Joshua Seuferer (RHS) – 34.86, 4. Aaron Furrow (RHS) – 50.61

Diving

(not contested)

100 butterfly

1. Mitch Ramski (CUL) – 1:05.50

100 freestyle

1. Arian Day (CUL) – 1:11.44, 2. Lucas Scorsone (RHS) – 1:22.92, 3. Bentley Blackburn (RHS) – 1:24.37

500 freestyle

1. Tyson Wachtmann (RHS) – 5:26.73, 2. Joshua Seuferer (RHS) – 7:17.27

200 freestyle relay

(not contested)

100 backstroke

1. Brevin Nicholson (RHS) – 1:13.57, 2. Aaron Furrow (RHS) – 2:55.39

100 breaststroke

1. Tanner Hamilton (RHS) – 1:42.24, 2. Bentley Blackburn (RHS) – 1:59.75

400 freestyle relay

1. Rochester (Brevin Nicholson, Tanner Hamilton, Joshua Seuferer, Tyson Wachtmann) – 4:38.67