ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – The Aquatic Pirates split with the Strongsville Mustangs (girls’ win, boys’ loss) in a non-conference home meet on Friday.
The Rocky River girls pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind
victory in their final event of the evening to earn a thrilling 96-90 victory.
The Pirate boys were felled, 112-71, in their competition against a talented
Strongsville bunch.
Tied, 86-86, heading into the 12th-and-final event – the 400-yard freestyle relay – the Pirate and Mustang girls took to the pool in four relays seeking points for three places (eight for first, four second, two for third). The winning relay would earn a victory for the team. One last battle to determine a war.
River’s four top combatants were Ella Russell, Gianna Miller, Morgan Schuld and Anna Skapoulas. They would go stroke-for-stroke, lap-for-lap, touch-for-touch with a Mustang quartet comprised of Jordyn Homoki, Bridget Seghy, Camille Merimee, and Ryley Mayberry.
The visitors opened a three-and-a-half-second advantage on the first 100 yards. Gianna Miller helped River trim that cushion back to a second-and-a-half with a fine swim as the Pirates No. 2. Morgan Schuld battled her opposite stroke-for-stroke in the three-hole, but Merimee gave Strongsville an increasing edge by the time she touched in ahead of the River senior. Fellow senior Anna Skapoulas, the Pirate anchor, would hit the water some three seconds after her counterpart, Mayberry.
Fifty yards in and Skapoulas had made up less than a third of the distance needed. Her final 50 would be a furious, splashing, dashing effort for the wall. An effort that comprised all of 28.01 seconds. An effort that saw the senior athlete get the first touch for the Pirates – in a final time of 3:42.96.
… 12 hundredths-of-a-second ahead of the Strongsville four. Only a new pool record would earn a victory for the Pirate girls, and that's what Skapalous & company provided.
The big finish earned a tremendous 96-90 win for the Double-R girls’ squad, now 4-0 on the season.
The Pirate girls won two of the three relays on the night. Miller, Schuld and Skapoulas were also in on the Pirates’ winning 4x200 free.
River and Strongsville split the evening’s 12 events down the middle, 6-6. The freestyle events loomed large in the final tally of scores. Miller won the 50 free and 100 free. Schuld won the 200 and 500 free events. Rocky River swept first, second and third in the 500, with Morgan Schuld, Mackenzie Schuld and Kira Katterle touching in in 1-2-3 fashion.
On the boys’ side, Strongsville won the final four events on the slate to take 8-of-12 for the meet. The Mustangs took three of the top four places in the 200 free. They won all three relays in handing the River boys (3-1) their first loss of the season.
Aiden Morris won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races. Morris
prevailed by 18 hundredths-of-a-second in the 100 free. Drew Helms logged a
first in the 500 free. Garrett Morris took the top spot in the 100 butterfly.