Gallery by Karen AkersĀ
Every school, every sport and every team was adversely affected to some degree by the pandemic last year, with the Shady Spring swim team being one of the most severely affected around the Mountain State.
“When Covid caused our season to be moved into the spring last year, our very small team of two lost their season due to work and school obligations,” Shady Spring head swim coach Clarissa Sutton said. “To be honest, I wasnāt even sure if we would have a team this year because of how Covid affected us last year.”
Now last season’s frustration and disappointment have disappeared, replaced by a new found excitement in the swim program.
“Shady did not have a team until the fall of 2013, now I have the largest girls team in the short history of our sport,” Sutton said. “I am very excited about this season.”
A glance down the roster will render numerous familiar names, but they are not ones that you would associate with swimming, for now.
“Many of these students are athletes, that have played softball, soccer, and volleyball or they have been musicians in the band,” Sutton explained. “They bring a certain spirit of dedication and hard work to practice and I canāt wait to see what they accomplish this year.”
While her team will not be short on athleticism, it will be short on swimming experience.
“All of them are brand new swimmers and none of them have high school swim experience,” Sutton said. “In fact, only a few have any competitive swimming experience at all, having participated in a season of summer league or the School Swim League years ago when they were in elementary school.”
Some may see the lack of experience as a stumbling block, but Sutton sees it in a positive light.
“It has been a lot of fun starting with the bare basics of the sport. This team is like a sponge, soaking up all things related to the sport like technique and the details of competing in a swim meet,” Sutton said. “I expect to develop at least one state meet qualifying girls relay team this year.”
The girls team will be made up of four seniors, two juniors and four freshmen. The seniors include Olivia Barnett, Abbie Culicerto, Paige Maynard and Olivia Turner.
“This group of seniors are very dedicated, natural leaders. They are multi-sport athletes, that are driven and talented. I expect them to break some school records this year.”
Barnett has been one of the most versatile athletes at Shady Spring during her high school career. Sutton describes Barnett as being talented in all four disciplines and a swimmer to watch this year.
Maynard, who recently signed to play softball at Penn State University, will swim the freestyle and breaststroke. Culicerto will focus on the backstroke and butterfly, while Turner will swim backstroke and freestyle.
“My juniors are Rhiannon Adkins and Karlie Dotson,” Sutton said. “Rhiannon will swim the freestyle and backstroke. Karlie is very talented and is one of our fastest swimmers on the team.”
The four freshmen will include Brooke Davis, Laken Gentry, Haley Hunt and Katie Wray.
“Brooke is an all-around swimmer and another one to watch this year,” Sutton said. “Laken is a freestyle sprinter and Haley will swim backstroke and butterfly. Katie will also swim the butterfly, as well as freestyle.”
On the boys side, Shady Spring has only one swimmer this year, but he is a good one according to Sutton.
“David Hegele is the only boy this year, but he is an all around swimmer who should challenge the competition in the 200 Individual Medley and 100 breaststroke,” Sutton said.
The Tigers open the season with a home meet Thursday at the Beckley-Raleigh County YMCA. Along with one home meet each month, Shady will also host the Southern Coalfields Classic, Saturday, Nov. 27.
“That meet is a big jump-start for high school teams across the state,” Sutton said. “We currently have 12 teams attending.”
Shady Spring is also scheduled to compete in events at the Teays Valley YMCA and at Marshall University in January.
The regional championship will be Saturday, Feb. 5 with state qualifiers advancing to the WVSSAC State Meet in Morgantown at the Mylan Park Aquatic Center on Feb. 17-18.