Bel Air, backed by record-smashing performances and double-winners, swept to an unprecedented fifth straight title in the Harford County swimming championships at Magnolia Middle School pool last week.
With the girls and boys team winners recognized for the first time in the 16-year history of the championships, Bel Air, led by senior Kathy Rising and sophomores Kelley Flynn and Lauren Hafer, won the girls trophy. The Fallston boys, without a winner, but using excellent depth, especially in the relays, also took a crown.
The Bel Air girls had 378 points to 218 for runner-up John Carroll; Fallston's boys defeated runner-up Havre de Grace, 213-204; and Bel Air was a runaway overall winner. The Bobcats had 568 points and a 199-point cushion, but only 19 points separated the next three -- Fallston, John Carroll, and C. Milton Wright.
The Bel Air girls set the tone for the team's championship run when it broke a county record in the first race on their program Thursday night. In the 200 medley relay, Beth Yonych, Kathy Rising, Lauren Hafer, and Amie Scharpf lowered a Bel Air standard of a year ago (1 minute, 55.82 seconds) to 1:55.57.
"I was pleased by all our swimmers, but especially for the medley relay, because that shows the individual strengths of the girls," Bel Air coach Jeff DeMott said. "We like to spread them around [in different events], but this year was tough. We just had so much talent, so much depth."
The next night, after five boys had combined to win four individual events and two relays en route to a third-place finish among the boys (ensuring another championship), DeMott said, "We figured about 190 [what the boys got], and everyone did an outstanding job. We asked a lot of them. We got them together before the meet and said this is what you have to do -- and up and down the line, we got personal bests."
Fallston coach Mark Rhine figured his boys had a chance, but as he explained, "We knew we had to do it in the relays. We had the talent, but we agonized over the matchups. Wednesday [the preliminaries] we came together and had some pleasant surprises."
For the girls, the meet turned out to be business as usual for Rising, a senior, and Katy Novotny, a Fallston sophomore.
Rising completed an outstanding career with her relay gold medal and a second successive record-setting performance in the 100 breaststroke, an event she won each of her four years. During her career, she earned 12 gold medals and was honored as the 1993 Girls Swimmer of the Year for a four-gold showing as a sophomore.
In the breaststroke, she dropped the record from 1:07.63 to 1:07.47. She and Betsy Steinen are the only seniors on a 25-girl Bel Air roster.
Novotny, who set individual records in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke a year ago as a freshman, lowered her freestyle standard by one one-hundredths of a second to 52.65, and won the backstroke in 59.88, just off her 59.71 record.
Bel Air sophomores Flynn (200 and 500 freestyles) and Hafer (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly) were double-winners, and Amy Landis, a C. Milton Wright senior, completed a long road back with her first gold-medal race (50 freestyle) since winning the 100 backstroke as a freshman. She missed last season with a shoulder injury, but came back much stronger for her final year.
Her winning 25.94 marked a breakthrough, too. It was her first time under 26 seconds.
All the individual winners but Landis (she touched out Aberdeen's Cindy Cattell) were top seeds. "That's pressure, but it pumps you up to do well," Rising said. Flynn added, "We [the three Bel Air winners] all did our best times. We're very satisfied."
So were the Bel Air boys, headed by senior DeHart and junior Machovec. Each won four gold medals (two individuals, two relays) for a second straight year. They were joined on the relays by Greg Hess and Bruce Tackett.
Additionally, DeHart broke the school record with his 55.89, a goal he had been pointing for.
Besides DeHart and Machovec, others with two individual first places were seniors Jason Glass of John Carroll (50 and 100 freestyles) and Sherwin Sapasap of Edgewood (200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke).
Sapasap completed an undefeated season, although his breaststroke time of 1:04.17 was well off his county mark of 1:01.93 set two years ago. He did, however, come right back to anchor the Rams to a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, where he was preceded by Jeff Boecher, Justin Davis and Jeremiah Breindel.
Final team standings
Bel Air 568; Fallston 369; John Carroll 366; C. Milton Wright 350; Aberdeen 262; Havre de Grace 224; Joppatowne 164; Edgewood 152; North Harford 96; Harford Tech 6.
Girls events
Team scores: Bel Air 378; John Carroll 218; C. Milton Wright 173; Fallston 156; Aberdeen 133; Joppatowne 117; Edgewood 66; North Harford 41; Havre de Grace 20; Harford Tech 0.
200 medley relay -- Bel Air B (B. Yonych, Rising, Hafer, Scharpf), ++ 1:55.57 (meet record, old, 1:55.82, Bel Air, 1994); 2. Bel Air B, 2:00.73; 3. Fallston, 2:01.11. 200 freestyle -- 1. Flynn (BA), 2:02.38; 2. McCarthy (FAL), 2:02.41; 3. M. Eyler (BA), 2:03.46. 200 individual medley -- 1. Hafer (BA), 2:14.39; 2. K. Eyler (BA), 2:17.85; 3. Hershner (CMW), 2:26.77. 50 freestyle -- 1. A. Landis (CMW), 25.94; 2. C. Cattell (AB), 26.00; 3. Scharpf (BA), 26.51. 100 butterfly -- 1. Hafer (BA), 1:02.23; 2. Rising (BA), 1:02.70; 3. Kotula (JC), 1:02.88. 100 freestyle -- 1. Novotny (FAL), 52.65 (county record, old, Novotny, 52.66 1994); 2. M. Eyler (BA), 56.55; 3. B. Yonych (BA), 57.30. 500 freestyle -- 1. Flynn (BA), 5:21.11; 2. McCarthy (FAL), 5:26.66; 3. Kotula (JC), 5:27.16. 200 freestyle relay -- 1. Aberdeen B (C. Cattell, Ishibashi, K. Andrews, M. Cattell), 1:47.46; 2. Bel Air, 1:47.93; 3. Fallston B, 1:52.53. 100 backstroke -- 1. Novotny (Fal), 59.88; 2. A. Landis (CMW), 1:02.72; 3. B. Yonych (BA), 1:03.67. 100 breaststroke -- 1. Rising (BA), 1:07.47 (county record, old, 1:07.68; Rising, 1995); 2. K. Eyler (BA), 1:12.43; 3. S. Dannenfelser (JC), 1:15.86. 400 freestyle relay -- 1. Bel Air B (Hafer, M. Eyler, L. Yonych, B. Yonych), 3:53.04; 2. Fallston A, 3:59.41; 3. Aberdeen A, 4:03.55.
Boys events
Team scores: Fallston 213; Havre de Grace 204; Bel Air 190; C. Milton Wright 177; John Carroll 148; Aberdeen 129; Edgewood 86; North Harford 55; Joppatowne 47; Harford Tech 6.
200 medley relay -- 1. Bel Air B (DeHart, Machovec, Hess, Tackett), 1:49.61; 2. C. Milton Wright A, 1:52.53; 3. John Carroll A, 1:53.95. 200 freestyle -- 1. Machovec (BA), 1:56.09; 2. Cavallaro (CMW), 1:59.81; 3. Smith (JC), 2:04.28. 200 individual medley -- 1. S. Sapasap (ED), 2:09.87; 2. Davies (HDG), 2:22.10; 3. Taylor (FAL), 2:25.30. 50 freestyle -- 1. Glass (JC), 23.70; 2. Hess (BA), 24.07; 3. Korch (AB), 24.37. 100 butterfly -- 1. DeHart (BA), 55.89; 2. Iacchei (JC), 1:00.42; 3. Vesely (AB), 1:01.25. 100 freestyle -- 1. Glass (JC), 52.94; 2. Cavallaro (CMW), 53.13; 3. Hess (BA), 53.61. 500 freestyle -- 1. Machovec (BA), 5:16.27; 2. Davies (HDG), 5:32.21; 3. Melani (CMW), 5:55.56. 200 freestyle relay -- 1. C. Milton Wright (Kotula, Cavallaro, Melani, Abeyta), 1:39.32. 2. Fallston B 1:42.41; 3. Edgewood A 1:43.20. 100 backstroke -- 1. DeHart (BA), 58.15; 2. Smith (JC), 1:04.79; 3. Hochstein (HDG), 1:06.58. 100 breaststroke -- 1. S. Sapasap (ED), 1:04.17; 2. Newhart (FAL), 1:08.61; 3. Spacek (NH), 1:09.67. 400 freestyle relay -- 1. Bel Air A (DeHart, Hess, Tackett, Machovec), 3:36.01.