VCHS Swimmers Ready for Successful 2012
As Published by Beaverton Valley Times Jan. 19, 2012
BEAVERTON – It’s quality more than quantity that will count most for the Valley Catholic swim teams this year.
The Valley Catholic girls team, led this season by first-year coach Jacob Sherman, is not particularly deep, but has plenty of talent to compete with the best teams in District 2. This year’s crew is led by junior Julia Anderson (a 2011 state finalist in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly), a talented group of freshman and another strong foreign exchange student.
“Our girls come in with a wealth of swimming experience,” said Sherman, a 2003 Valley Catholic graduate and three-time state qualifier who later played water polo at Oregon State. “If our girls lose a meet, it will be because we are outnumbered more than outclassed. Because of our strength, when we have more teams (at district), you should see us somewhere near the top.”
Anderson is the defending district champion in the butterfly and later fifth at state in the event, and also took second in the district 200 IM and fourth at state.
The team will also rely heavily on the freshman trio of Marisa Jack, Kathleen Shew and Hailey Moraes, as well as on foreign exchange student Momoko Mayumi.
The freshmen “should all make a splash at districts and state,” said Sherman, who has also coached for Tualatin Hills and at Monroe Catholic in Fairbanks, Alaska. “Our girls have a chance to do great things this year, with a perfect storm of young talent, strong senior leaders and a mix of others.”
Sherman expects La Salle and La Grande — both top-11 finishers at state last season — to be strong again this year.
Boys Team
Likewise, the VC boys team is relatively modest in numbers, but should still be talented enough to compete with most of the teams in District 2.
“Our boys have done surprisingly well considering the amount of new swimmers we have,” Sherman said. “While we are rebuilding, we are strong in many of the individual events and have some depth coming in with our new swimmers.”
This year, the Valiants will be led by Basti Froelich in the 100 and 200 freestyle and backstroke, and by Stephen Pierce in the 50 and 100 free and the IM. Other top contributors will include Matt Lawyer (50 and 100 free, butterfly), Ben Krueger (200 and 500 free) and Andrew Linneman (breaststroke).
Krueger was fifth in the 2011 district 500 freestyle, and also swam on VC’s fifth-place 200 free relay team at district.
“These boys are all hard workers, coming to two-a-days and dryland more often than not,” Sherman said. “I’m not sure how good we will be in our league, but for a rebuilding team, I think we may do well.”
RSS