Wayne County Life

     PALMYRA (Oct 2 10) – Winning the first five events, taking all the relays, and going 1-2-3 in the 50 Freestyle laid the groundwork for the Newark swim team on Saturday as the Lady Reds blitzed Pal-Mac, 118-65.

     Chelsea Power and Hannah Marvin were double winners in individual events, but coach Danielle Ohlsen said it was the opening event of the meet that raised the first flag that this meet might be something special.

     In the 200 Medley Relay that opened the noontime competition, Marvin, Krista VerMeersch, Danielle Peets and Brittani Robinson touched the pad first (2:07.73), nosing out Pal-Mac’s Ramirez-Valls, Jones, Alexander and Polashenski (2:08.16).

     Power then grabbed her first win in the 200 Free (2:11.33), VerMeersch conquered the 200 Individual medley (2:40.67), and Hannah Marvin led a sweep of the 50 Free (28.44) with Robinson second (29:05) and Leah Marvin third (29.26).

     “The girls brought an amazing psych to the meet today,” said Ohlson. “They really set the tone in the first event, with the ‘A’ team dropping almost 3 seconds off their season best in the 200 Medley relay, and the rest of the meet followed through with the momentum winning that first race created. We weren’t expecting to win that event, or to go 1-2-3 in the 50 free either. Once we did that, the girls really knew we were on fire. I was extremely proud of them today.”

     Caroline Gardener took the diving competition (171.55), and after the mid-meet warm-ups were over, Pal-Mac’s Maya Polashenski got the first of two individual wins for the Red Raiders, taking the 100 Butterfly (1:15.60) with Newark’s Peets in second (1:16.36).

Power grabbed her second win, in the 100 Free (58.80), Lauren Allen won the 500 Free(6:10.94) in a close race with Pal-Mac’s Ellie Jones (6:11.48). Newark’s ‘A’ (Power, VerMeersch, Peets, Marvin) and ‘B’ (Morgan Dailey, Sam Diaz-Cruz, Peets, Marvin) foursomes were 1-2 (1:53.15 and 2:00.03) in the 200 Free Relay.

     Danielle Alexander got the second outright win for Pal-Mac in the 100 Backstroke (1:12.18), out-touching Hannah Marvin (1:12.74), who got right back into the pool to win the 100 Breaststroke (1:18.48). In the finale, Newark took the 400 Free Relay (Power, Dailey, Marvin, Allen) in 4:17.98, with Pal-Mac’s squads second and third (Chapman, Polashenski, Jones, Dix – 4:32.76).

     Newark assistant coach Tedd Van Duyne summed up the day for the Lady Reds: “It was an amazing performance by our girls,” he said.