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Brentsville comes up big on opening day
Even though the stat sheet provided to reporters and coaches after the meet did not mark point totals, any literate person could figure out Brentsville District simply ran the table last week in Warrenton.The Tigers cruised to 14 wins last Thursday night during the opening day of swim season against Evergreen District opponents Fauquier, Liberty and Kettle Run.
On top of that, Brentsville swimmers claimed state-bound times in 15 events.
That list includes the boys 200-yard medley relay team of Justin Doyle, Jules Coy, Tim Rackowski and Ryan Dunne; 200-yard freestylists Dunne and Chuckie Zumbaugh; and 50-yard freestylist Nicole Haynes.
Haynes, Rackowski and Nathan Brown swim in the 100-yard butterfly; Dunne takes the 500-yard freestyle; and the 200-yard freestyle relay teams feature Brown, Zumbaugh, Coy and Jacob Katuin for the boys and Annalee Gallagher, Emily Goodrich, Brittany Higdon and Haynes for the girls.
The 100-yard backstrokers are Zumbaugh, Doyle and Kara Tansill; the 100-yard breaststroker is Coy; and the boys 400-yard freestyle relay team is made up of Rackowski, Doyle, Brown and Dunne.
By comparison, the other three schools combined for 10 state-qualifying times.
According to Rackowski, the boys team should "definitely" be on the podium at states this year with a top-three finish. Of course, bringing it all home is the ultimate goal.
"Well, just from last year, I think it's just getting more people into finals at states, getting more points (so) you can get into finals," he said.
Each of the boys' A-list swimmers should be aiming to qualify in at least two events along with a relay or two, Rackowski said. This is not an unrealistic expectation either according to rookie coach Ashleigh Krzywicki.
"Our boys team is really, really good," she said, adding that some of her top swimmers like Dunne "killed it.”
Those upperclass leaders are also helping out Krzywicki, who was previously an assistant coach at Stonewall Jackson. The team leaders are helping her all-new squad with organization in the wake of former coach Julie DeNard's retirement from the team.
"Well, a lot of them, they know what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are and they've been helping me kind of figure out where I should put them because I could put them anywhere and they're going to win," said Krzywicki. "But, they're helping with a lot of the freshmen, trying to get them acclimated to the team."
Krzywicki has a problem any coach would be envious of: excess talent.
Her brother Tyler, a BDHS graduate, used to swim for Brentsville last year and told her, "You're not going to know what to do with some of them because they're really good."
That's where the leadership kicks in.
"Well, they helped me put the relays together because I didn't know what their state of relays were," she said of her seniors and juniors.
Rackowski, one of the team captains, said the role of the upperclassmen is to "kind of talk to kids if they're not swimming well, do stretches, if they're talking (when the coach is) tell them to quiet down."
Gallagher, who is captain of the girls, said the younger Tigers on the team "work hard" and will "basically swim whatever." Even though the girls team does not have the depth chart of the boys team, there are still plenty of utility swimmers who can potentially fill point gaps in order to collect points beyond the first place finishers.
"Everyone's getting a swim. We're trying to get everyone in at least one event," said Rackowski.
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