Rockets blast past Blair swimmers

DEC 18, ROCKVILLE MUNICIPAL-

With Santa at the poolside and parents crowding the stands, Blair's swim team had a sizable audience turn out for its second match of the season. Unfortunately for the spectators, however, both the boys' and girls' teams were defeated by the Richard Montgomery (RM) Rockets, who were hosting the meet. The boys' team fell by a razor-thin margin of 87-81, while the girls' team was overwhelmed 129-40, dropping both teams' records to 0-2.

The Rockets began with a six-point lead by capturing first and third in the 200 Medley Relay, but the Blazer boys fought back by winning four of the five freestyle events. Sophomore David Vuong captured first in the 200 and 500 Free, and junior Bryan Erickson took home the gold in the 100 Free. In addition to these individual victories, the Blazer relay team of Erickson, Vuong, sophomore Robert Feasley and freshman Yang Yang placed first in the 400 Free Relay, giving the Blazers a total of 26 points.

These four victories, however, were not enough to give the Blazer boys a lead over the Rockets, who kept the score tilted in their favor by placing high in every other event. RM pulled surprise upsets over Yang in both the 200 IM and the 100 Fly, and they also claimed victory in the 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back and 100 Breast Events. Though the Blazers claimed second and third in many of these events and were within one point of tying the score after the diving event, they were never able to erase RM's lead. The Rockets would pick up a few crucial points every time Blair narrowed the score gap, and they ultimately finished the match exactly as they started it: with a six-point lead.

While Blair's boys were as close as one point away from a tie at some points during their meet, however, the winner of the girls' match was obvious from the very start. The Rocket girls captured first-place in every one of the girls' events, and all but one of the second-place finishes; junior co-captain Kelsey Dean was the only Blazer to finish second, clocking in at 5:39 in the 500 Free. Unable to capture more than five of 16 points in any of the individual events, and finishing third for two points in both of the relays, the Blazer girls finished the meet with only 40 points to the Rockets' 129.

In spite of the 89-point difference in score, however, Coach David Swaney believes that the Blazer girls swam a solid match against the Rockets. "RM's girls are the top in the county," he said, explaining that the scoreboard reflected the Rockets' strength much more than it reflected the fact that many of Blair's girls swam "good, fast times."

In contrast to the girls, Swaney explained that the boys' team was unable to field as strong a group of swimmers as it has in the past because two of its three captains were absent due to a conflicting private meet and the other was only able to stay halfway through the afternoon. However, "all of the swimmers who were here had a great meet," Swaney said, noting in particular that Vuong and Erickson had strong performances.

The Blazers' next meet will be the Division I Relay Carnival, which will be held at 9:15 a.m. at the Martin Luther King Swim Center on Saturday, Jan. 8.