Warriors place sixth at regional meet
Published 9:28 pm Friday, February 8, 2019
The Nansemond River High School swim teams both finished sixth in the Class 5 Region A meet.
The Warriors swim team placed sixth out of 14 teams at the regional meet Thursday evening. The team had 35 individual and six relay entries with Nansemond River dropping time in 27 of their entries, including 21 personal best times.
Leading the girls’ team was junior Selby Heyman, qualifying for states in the 200 free and the 100 backstroke. Heyman also posted top splits in both of the girls’ freestyle relays, with a 50 yard split of 24.54 in the 200 free relay, and an amazing 100 yard split of 52.46 in the 400 free relay. Heyman will make her third consecutive trip to the state meet.
The girls’ 200 free relay team broke the school record with a time of 1:47.04. The relay featured Rana Ceribasi, Ashlyn Swaim, Haley Russell and Heyman. The previous record was set in 2011 with a time of 1:51.15 by Alyssa Sperlazza, Sara Gallagher, Rachel McManus and Sabrina Sperlazza.
On the boys’ side, junior Andrew Betts qualified for states to swim the 100 free and 200 free, as well as two relays. Like Heyman, Betts will be making his third consecutive appearance in the forthcoming state meet. The boys qualifying relays are the 200 medley relay featuring Betts, Jason Breckner, Cameron Wilkins and Hunter Ward. The 400 free relay featuring Ward, Keagan DeLong, Jonathan Sullivan and Betts will compete at the state meet as well for the Warriors.
The Class 5 state meet will be Feb. 16 and will be held at George Mason University. The boys’ team finished as the runner-up in the district this season with a 7-2 record, with the girls finishing the season with a 5-4 record.