Suffolk News-Herald

Sarah D’Haem capped off a domineering performance by the Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls swim team on Friday by shaving nearly 30 seconds off her personal best in the 400-freestyle. After coming in with a time of over 6:20 in her last outing, the senior Lady Saint tore through the waves of the Suffolk YMCA to finish at 5:56.34.

&uot;There was a girl behind me at my feet that I could see,&uot; said D’Haem, referring to Peninsula Catholic’s Alyson Jacobs, who took second place with a time of 6.00.65. &uot;I tried to stay a body length ahead of her, and I was hoping she wouldn’t speed up. I wanted to get a 6:02, and I ended up doing even better.&uot; The Lady Saints took first place in every race but one in a 75-19 defeat of Catholic and a 71-23 win over Peninsula Catholic (PC).

Anna Cotton, Kelly Ruland and Britney and Jade Bishop opened the meet by taking the 200-medley relay with a time of 2:19, and Alex Westfall, Kristen MacKinnon, Tiffany Buckley and Maggie Standing finished seven seconds later for second place. Tess Smith and D’Haem took first and second in the 200-freestyle, and Britney won the 50- and 100-freestyle.

Smith grabbed her second individual victory with in the 100-fly (Standing was second), and D’Haem’s 400-free win (encompassing a full 16 lengths of the YMCA pool) upped NSA’s point total to an insurmountable 45.

Britney, Buckley, Smith and Danielle Waller teamed up to take home the 200-free relay, and Jade won the 100-backstroke. Cotton and MacKinnon took first and second in the 100-breast, and Jade, Ruland, Waller and Smith finished the meet by winning the 400-free relay with a time of 4:45.21, over 20 seconds better than the second-place squad of Catholic.

The boys match came down to the final strokes, as the male Saints had to scramble to hold off a pesky Catholic squad, 52-40 (they beat PC 63-28). After a Crusader victory in the 200-free relay got Catholic as close as 38-29, Michael Miller, Joe Lewinski, Ryan Hanson and Brandon Wilder ended the match the same way they had started it; with a relay victory. Just as the foursome finished first in the match-opening 200-medley relay, they took a relatively easy 400-free relay win (the Saints came in at 4:13.03, Catholic at 4:37.31) to put the win away.

Lewinski gave the Saints an 11-7 lead by winning the 200-free, but Catholic finished first and second in the 200-medley for a 14-12 lead. Miller tied the score at 17 by winning the 50- free, and Wilder’s 100-fly win kept things knotted at 21. Miller and Lewinski grabbed first and second in the 100-free, and Philip Brooks (NSA’s only eighth-grader) and Jeffrey Iiams had the first two spots in the 400-free.

Hanson then took the 100-backstroke, and he and the rest of NSA’s top boys’ relay team won the 400-relay for the victory. The Saints hope to have similar success when they host Walsingham and Norfolk Collegiate next Friday.