FREMONT – Putting together a medley relay can be a tricky puzzle for some swim teams.
Alexis Prenzlin (top) and Lauren Zimmerman (bottom) catch their breath following their race in the 100 breaststroke in Saturday’s sectional.
But Ross girls swim coach Tina Moses probably puts more thought into what she puts into her coffee than she does thinking about her medley relay lineup.
The Lady Giants dominated their Division I sectional meet Saturday afternoon. Ross’ girls opened the day by breaking their own school record in the 200 medley relay. Those same four Lady Giants, MaKennah Fitzgerald, Alexis Prenzlin, AnneMarie Moses and Olivia DeRodes, all went on to take first-place finishes in their respective individual events later in the meet. As a team, the Lady Giants won 10 events, with at least one of Ross’ Big Four, having a hand in every victory.
“Each of those girls, those stokes, they’re amazing at each of those strokes,” Tina Moses said. “As a coach, I’m very lucky to have those girls. I have the four of them and each of them, that’s their specialty. It’s like a puzzle that just fell together.”
The medley relay won its race by more than seven seconds with a time of 1:46.79, breaking the record those same four girls set last year of 1:46.79.
As none of them were tapered nor wearing new laser suits, the smart money is on another new mark next week at the district meet.
“I love that relay,” DeRodes said. “I think it’s how well we all click together, and how close we all are. It’s awesome to see all our team cheering us on and the support we get from everyone. We’re a young relay still, three of us still have another year and Lexi has two more. I’m excited. There should be really good things to come with that relay.
Faith Zimmerman dives into the water to begin the 400 yard freestyle relay in Saturday’s sectional meet.
“We wanted to get the pool record, it’s ours from last year and we got it,” DeRodes said. “We’re going for a district championship next week and maybe a district record.”
After helping the relay team to a record, DeRodes picked up one for just herself. DeRodes won the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:05.97, smashing the school record of 5:10. She also won the 50 free with a time of 24.03 seconds – more than a full second faster than second place.
“I thought she had a decent shot at breaking 5:10 and getting the school record at this meet,” Tina Moses said. “Who’d have thought she’s break it by five seconds? She had an amazing swim. I look for her to drop even more time (next week).
“And how fun is it to swim the shortest event and the fastest event and kill it in both of them?”
Alexis Prenzlin
AnneMarie Moses
Joining DeRodes in re-writing the record book was Prenzlin. The sophomore won the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.05 – a cushion of more than four seconds over her closest competition. Her time of 1:04.64 won her first place in the 100 breaststroke, besting her own school-record of 1:07.00 by more than two seconds.
“When I got that record, I was totally tapered and shaved and in a fast suit,” Prenzlin said. “I’m not even tapered or shaved or in a new suit so it was very surprising. I had a really good season last year and I’m already going faster than I did last year, so I feel like this year will be a very good season for me.”
Like Prenzlin and DeRodes, Fitzgerald also won a pair of individual events. She took first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.25 seconds while also winning the 100 freestyle in 54.04 – all despite entering the event not feeling at her best.
Olivia DeRodes
MaKennah Fitzgerald
“Going into the meet, I didn’t feel really good about it because I’ve been feeling really tight in practice the last couple weeks,” Fitzgerald said. “I was a little nervous and I wasn’t expecting much, but I almost PRd in my sprint in the relay, we got the school record and that felt really good. I didn’t feel tight any more.”
Completing the medley relay’s sweep of the individual events, AnneMarie Moses cruised to a win in the 100 butterfly, winning by more than 2.5 seconds over the second-place finisher.
“Our medley relay, we all specialize in the stokes we do in the relays so it really, really helps the relay,” AnneMarie Moses said. “We all do our part and we all do it pretty good.
“These good times really help our mentality going into districts,” she added. “Getting all this adrenaline at sectionals, it’s what’s going to carry us to state, it’s what’s going to do it for us.”
Moses, Fitzgerald and DeRodes re-teamed on the 400 freestyle, along with Faith Zimmerman, to win with a time of 3:41.55 – a full 25 seconds faster than second place.
Prenzlin, Moses and Rilee Overmyer and Mara Brown combined to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:41.60, winning by nine seconds.
Rachel Haitonic
The 200 freestyle was the only event the Lady Giants did not finish first in Saturday. Rachel Haitonic, however, turned in a solid time of 2:04.05 and will compete next week in the district meet.
“Rachel Haitonic had a great swim in the 500,” Tina Moses said of Haitonic’s fifth-place time of 5:29.73. “Nice, fast pace the whole way through. Real confident.”
Even after nearly sweeping the sectional and shattering multiple school records, Tina Moses believes next week’s district meet – also hosted by Ross – will feature even faster times.
“We did more yards this past week this year than we did last year and they had significant time drops from this meet last year to this year,” Moses said. “Comparing apples to apples, I expect them to swim really fast next week and do some incredible things.”
Division I sectionals
Girls results
Top places
200 medley relay: First place; MaKennah Fitzgerald, Alexis Prenzlin, AnneMarie Moses, Olivia DeRodes; 1:46.79 (won by more than 7 seconds) – Broke record of 1:48.08 from last year
200 freestyle: Fourth place; Rachel Haitonic, 2:04.05
200 IM: First place; Alexis Prenzlin, 2:10.56 (won by more than 4 seconds)
50 freestyle: First place; Olivia DeRodes, 24.03 (won by over a second)
1 meter diving:
100 butterfly: First place; AnneMarie Moses, 58.95 (2.5 seconds faster than second place)
100 freestyle: First place; MaKennah Fitzgerald, 54.04
500 freestyle: First place; Olivia DeRodes, 5:05.97
200 freestyle relay: First place; Alexis Prenzlin, Rilee Overmyer, Mara Brown, AnneMarie Moses; 1:41.60 (nine seconds faster than second place)
100 backstroke: First place; MaKennah Fitzgerald, 59.25 (2 seconds faster than second place)
100 breaststroke: First place; Alexis Prenzlin, 1:04.64 (more than 2.5 seconds faster than second place
400 freestyle relay: First place; Faith Zimmerman, AnneMarie Moses, MaKennah Fitzgerald, Olivia DeRodes; 3:41.55 (25 seconds faster than second palce)