McCord leads WHS swimmers at Viking Invite

  • By Brian Questel
  • December 28, 2009
  • 639
                        
It was an early test for Wooster High in a pool that holds one of the final chapters of its season in the water. Competing in the Viking Invitational at Cleveland State University, where the Div. I district meet will be held, the General swim teams posted some strong performances. Senior Alex McCord had the biggest performance of all, finishing third in the 50 freestyle, and then he helped the 200 free relay of Chase Hooley, Clay Matthew and Phillip Mitchell to a sixth-place, 1:32.86 finish. That place was only the second top-6 relay finish in coach Jeff DeHaan’s 12 years at the Wooster helm. McCord turned in a 21.86 in the 50, which was his best time of the young season. On the relay, his split was a 21.14, which was the second-best recorded all day at Viking. “He hadn’t broke 22 seconds until sectionals last year,” said DeHaan, of McCord’s 50 time. “This was his first Top-6 award. We hadn’t had a relay finish in the top-6 in five years, so they won a Top-6 T-shirt and a hat, which is kinda neat.” McCord also had a 10th-place finish in the backstroke (54.77) after qualifying seventh in the prelims and then came back in the next event to lead off the 400 relay, where he posted a 48.46 split. “That puts him two seconds ahead of last year,” noted DeHaan, of that 100 time. The 400 relay of Danny Jones, Matthew, Hooley and McCord turned in a 3:24.65, which was a season best and “two full seconds faster than last year.” “Last year we went 3:26.54 with (graduated) Robbie (Sibilia), so that was exciting to see … despite losing a key person in that relay,” noted DeHaan. Wooster was 21st in the 200 medley relay with Jones, Garrett Jentes, Jacob Ackerman and Mitchell; Hooley was 18th in the 200 IM (2:07.0) and 13th in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.24) and Jones was 22nd in the 100 back to round out its top efforts. The girls had all three relays advance to the finals, “which we haven’t done in a long time,” said girls coach Chris Matthew. “We were 19th (200 free), 15th (400) and 19th (medley) and did not swim that well.” That was certainly positive news for Matthew, who will get a chance to reload those relays in the NEAC Championships Jan. 8-9, and she was also heartened by some individual events. Jamie Chipka cracked the top 20 in the 100 free (13th, 56.79) and 200 free (18th, 2:03.51), while Aly Weeman turned in a 1:12.23 to place 21st in the 100 breaststroke. “Chipka swam fine for having a meet the night before and Aly had times nowhere near what she’s had at Viking,” said Matthew. Weeman joined Jillian Perry, Angela Sibilia and Katelyn Persinger on the 200 IM relay as they turned in a 2:00.90; Kim Sibilia, Perry, Persinger and Chipka joined forces for a 1:46.84 in the 200 free; and the Sibilias, Weeman and Chipka finished with a 3:53.45 in the 400 relay. Wooster will travel to Wadsworth Dec. 28 before returning home to face GlenOak the following night. The Generals will host Hoover Jan. 7 before it hosts the NEAC Championships Jan. 8-9.


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