Although it might not be considered a winter sport by many, high school swimming season gets started for area teams Thursday at the Beckley-Raleigh County YMCA.
“It is hard to believe it is swim season already,” Woodrow Wilson swimming head coach Robin Feldhake.
The Flying Eagles have 11 swimmers ready to hit the pool Thursday, but with fall sports ending, that number could grow.
“I have two seniors returning, Ashlee Mainella and Eden Honaker that have been to states,” Feldhake said. “They both have been swimming for several years. I also have another senior, Jillian Weatherford. This is her fourth year swimming as well. All three of them are taking leadership roles for the team.”
The leadership roles include writing the workout routines and helping newer swimmers with stroke techniques.
Mainella will be concentrating on the back stroke and the 200 Individual Medley. The IM involves all four disciplines including the backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle.
Honaker will also compete in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly, while Weatherford will swim the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.
“Eden has figured out the butterfly and says that it’s not that hard for her. She would rather do that than the freestyle,” Feldhake said. “She can make that kick flow and she has really worked it out.”
Haley Shumate and Lillie Villenave round out the seniors on the girls roster for Woodrow this year.
“This is Haley’s second year and she has been doing really well,” Feldhake said. “She will swim the 50 free and she is also looking at the backstroke and breaststroke. Lillie will focus on the 50 free and the backstroke.”
The Woodrow Wilson roster will include two freshman Abigail Harvey and Jheyda Hopkins who are new to competitive swimming.
Rylei Cornett is also a freshman that will swim the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, but she also brings with her some competitive swimming experience, having swam for the YMCA team.
On the boys side, Corbin Peters, Dalton Brandstetter and Gabriel Kidd make up the roster.
“Corbin is a junior and he went to states last year and he will probably mix it up this year. In the first meet he will swim the 500 freestyle and the 200 IM. He likes the distance events. He can swim everything,” Feldhake said.
Brandstetter is still undecided for the upcoming meet, but does swim the freestyle and the backstroke.
“I have one new boy, Gabriel Kidd, who is a freshman. He has never swam competitively, but he is an athlete,” Feldhake said. “He is really picking it up after just three weeks. He is going to be a really strong swimmer.”
The first meet for Woodrow Wilson will be Thursday at 6 p.m. at the YMCA and will include Shady Spring and PikeView.
The Flying Eagles will also compete in the Wild Winter Blast at the Teays Valley YMCA in December which includes teams from the Kanawha, Putnam and Cabell counties.
“At the moment I don’t know if we will be traveling anywhere else. We may just head down there a couple of times and do our home meets, due to COVID concerns and limited spectators,” Feldhake said.
Like any coach, Feldhake is just hoping to get through the season unhindered by the pandemic concerns.
“Last year, there weren’t as many meets available and we didn’t travel anywhere. All of our meets were at home until we we went to regionals. The kids were quarantined several times and our season was pushed out to the spring,” Feldhake said.
This year regional meet is schedule for Feb. 5 at a site to still be determined. The state meet will be held Feb. 17-18 at the Mylan Park Aquatic Center in Morgantown.
“We are looking to see what we can do this year. We have a lot of potential on this team,” Feldhake said. “In the past the girls have had strong relays, so we are going to see what we can put together there. Hopefully we can keep building the swimming program.”
