Sometimes a victory doesn’t necessarily equate to a win. But then, Bainbridge head swim and dive coach Greg Colby wasn’t expecting a win against the Islanders.
In the Spartans’ 98-87 loss to Mercer Island Monday afternoon, Colby conceded there was really nothing his team could have done to make up the 11-point difference.
And after last year’s regular season 30-plus point loss, the mere 11 point difference left smiles on just about every BHS team member’s face.
“We swam them great,” said an enthusiastic Colby. “They beat us by a lot last year.”
The points margin was lowered by a number of small Spartan victories: Emily Silver taking first and breaking the Ray Williamson pool record in the 100 freestyle — a record she set last season; the backstroke trio of Julia Sullivan, Brooke Hallett and younger sibling Katie Hallett finishing 1-2-3 in the 100 back; and the always-favored Spartan 400 freestyle relay team of Sarah Gleason, Jenna Santelli, Joy Miller and Silver scorching Mercer Island by nearly three seconds.
In the 50 freestyle, Silver admitted she was eyeing her 2002 pool record, and despite out-pacing her next competitor by two and a half seconds, the 23.63 time was a mere .11 seconds shy of the mark.
“After the 50, I wasn’t going to say ‘I’m going for the record (in the 100),’” Silver said. “I just went.”
And with UCLA head swim coach Cyndi Gallagher watching from the stands at the Ray, Silver certainly churned some water. By her third and final flip-turn, Silver was in the lead by more than half a pool length.
The surprise sweep of the day came from three Spartan swimmers whose combined names sound more like a law firm than a backstroking trio. Sullivan, Hallett and Hallett stretched themselves out smooth and long to finish in the top three spots in the 100 back, with the youngest Hallett making up the distance from fourth to third in the last 25 meters.
“Katie brought it back really well,” Colby said of the sophomore’s determined effort. “That’s a great dual meet line up, they’re going to be able to go the distance for us. Our backstroke is going to help us out a lot.”
And though it was a good pump for the team, the points were almost entirely negated by a Mercer Island sweep of the following event, the 100 breast stroke.
But then the 400 relay team took the deck for the next event, and did what they almost always do — win, in a commanding fashion.
Both Gleason and Santelli led their respective legs of the relay, with Miller finishing a little more than a second off the first-place pace. Silver dug in, not only making up the second in a furious chase, but adding three seconds to it for the win. The Sparts clocked a 3:43.67, with Mercer finishing in second place at 3:46.50.
Other highlights included diver Stephanie Whalen’s final offering in the last round of the diving competition. After overpowering the majority of her dives and then under-compensating on an inward, 1 1/2 pike, Whalen nailed her final single twist 1 1/2 with scores of 6,6,6,6.5 and 6. Whalen finished in second place for the Spartans behind MI’s Dani Zorn.
Gleason sliced through the 500 freestyle like a knife, with strokes at the end of the long race looking as fluid as when she started. Her first-place time of 5:12.59 was 24 and a half seconds faster than Mercer Island’s second place finisher.
After two meets in two days, Colby expects the team to take a bit of a break after Thursday’s home duel against Newport.
“We have a full week off after the next meet, and we need it.”
