The Lexington Minutemen won their first meet of the season against the Shelby Whippets on Tuesday evening. The Lady Minutemen dominated the pool scoring 112 points, while the Lady Whippets tallied 61 points. On the boy’s side, the Whippets kept pace with the Minutemen but couldn’t overtake them. The Minutemen ended with 84 points and the Whippets fell short with 80 points.
The Lady Minutemen started the evening off winning the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:59.79 from Hannah Stevens, Kim Cicila, Ashley Basham, and Abbie Kaple. Stevens continued to display dominance in the pool with two individual wins. Stevens won the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:11.34 and the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 59.15. Lady Whippet Baylie White finished behind Stevens with a time of 1:10.68 in the 100 yard butterfly.
Sautter grabbed two wins for her team in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:10.49 and the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 1:00.03. Sautter’s teammate, Ashley Basham dominated in the 50 yard freestyle displaying a time of 28:11, as well as the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 6:12.27.
The Lexington wins also had an extra special meaning. “Hailee Sautter and Hannah Stevens both did a tremendous job. Hannah broke two school records tonight in the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly.” said head coach Brock Spurling. “Breaking school records in the first meet of the season is unheard of, so that really shows where she is at for the season. We just need to continue to get stronger.”
Lady Whippet Lexi Brooks followed Basham in the 50 freestyle with a time of 31.03 and Brooks also grabbed a second place behind Sautter in the 100 yard freestyle displaying a time of 1:12.70. Lady Whippet Rachel Baker grabbed a second place finish behind Abbie Kaple of Lexington in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:19.15. Kaple finished with 1:14.67.
The Whippets started the evening off with a win in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:58.23. The relay consisted of Derek Ensman, Joe Emerson, Nick McPherson, and Noah John. McPherson also grabbed two wins in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:03.11 and in the 100 yard butterfly posting a time of 1:02.05. John captured victory in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.75.
The Minutemen came racing back capturing victories in the pool. Keith Brownewell won the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:33.38 and Whippet Joe Emerson trailed behind Brownewell with a time of 2:36.31. Brownewell also won the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:13.69. The Minutemen captured victories in both the 200 and 400 yard freestyle relays with a time of 1:43.53 in the 200 yard freestyle relay and a time of 4:02.69 in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Both relay teams consisted of members including Brownewell, Nick Stricklen, Stephen Ward, and Jack Bennett.
“This is our first meet of the season and overall I feel we did well. We have a lot of beginner swimmers this year and our numbers aren’t as high as they have been in the past,” said Whippets head coach Louise Sommer. “There were a few mistakes made tonight, but now they know how to correct them.”
Across the pool, Lexington Minutemen head coach Brock Spurling not just was pleased with his teams win but how they got there. “We had quite a few kids that were out tonight, but we fought through and did a really nice job. On the boy’s side, Stephen Ward and Keith Brownewell both stepped up tonight and had a great meet.”
