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Competition yields fast times at PCAC meet

Those surprised at the Southwest Pool clock or the agate type in the newspaper, don't be: Performances at Saturday's Pinellas County Athletic Conference meet really were that fast.

Over and over again at the Largo pool, personal records were set and meet records up to 11 years old were broken. Not bad for a late-September meet that followed weeks of hard training.

"It was much faster than last year, though maybe that's true every year and we just forget that," Seminole coach Tom Haight said. "The kids are all broken down and tired, but they can get up on the blocks and race to their hearts' content.

"We saw some great, great swimming."

Northeast's Brenno Varanda clocked 59.73 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke, .39 off the school record set in 2000 by Jordan Raynovich and more than 1 second faster than his best time last year. Seminole's Katie Metka covered the 50 freestyle in 24.53, one-hundredth of a second off a personal best (she also won the 100 free).

Warhawks senior Luis Leon put up two remarkable times, 21.48 in the 50 free and 52.42 in the 100 fly. The former was .42 better than the best time in the county last year, the latter one second better than Leon's 2000 best, which was the best in the county.

"Luis flat-out said he would win the 100 fly, I said 'Uh, well, okay' ... and he did it," Haight said. "And 21.4 in the 50 free? You can't make a mistake (and have that time).

"I guess you just sit back and enjoy him swimming, some exciting things can happen."

The last hour of the meet was especially exciting for Seminole, as two girls relay teams broke their own 2000 records. Julie Johnson, LeeAnn Laing and Metka all returned from teams that set PCAC marks in the 200 and 400 free relay last year, but Teresa Tessier was sidelined with a partially torn labrum in her shoulder.

Haight inserted Brennan Aldrich in the 200 and Nicole Margaritondo in the 400 and neither team missed a beat. The 200 relay came in at 1:41.24, 2.08 seconds faster than last year. The 400 relay's 3:31.64 was 1.77 seconds quicker.

Some of the fast times came out in fantastic races. Largo's Craig Coghlan won a thrilling 200 free in 1:48.44, .02 ahead of Clearwater freshman Clay Bullock. Just .02 behind Bullock in third was Josh Curnutte of Palm Harbor U.

Don't be surprised if there are no faster times until November. The 16 Pinellas public schools are spread across three districts, and some district meets pale in comparison to the PCAC in terms of competitive energy.

"The kids really rise to the challenge regardless of training and they swim fast (at PCAC)," Haight said. "We probably won't see this much competition until the state meet."

DUPED: Another record-setting performance at PCAC came from PHU's Jessica Deng in the 100 breaststroke, though she had no idea until someone pointed it out to her immediately after the race.

The old mark, set in 1991, was 1:07.62. Coaches told her it was 1:07.16, so when Deng touched the wall in 1:07.38 she thought she had fallen short.

"Is it a record? Okay, that's cool too," Deng said after hearing the news.

Call it an old coaching trick.

"It worked out okay, because she tried a little harder," said PHU coach Lisa Bitting, smiling and admitting to the tactic. "Whatever it takes."

HONORED: Clearwater Aquatics Team and Clearwater High junior Jay Carpenter recently was named USA High School All-American for the 2001-2002 school year. His 52.22 effort in the 100-yard backstroke at last year's state meet was good for honorable mention.

Clearwater Aquatics member and Notre Dame swimmer Patrick Davis swam a 5,000-yard freestyle in 50:34.49 last December that won first place in the recently announced results of the USA Swimming Postal Distance Meet. The race is held at local pools all across the country over the course of a year. Davis' time was two and a half minutes ahead of the next competitor.

Joy Taylor, of CAT and Ridgewood High, placed third among girls in the event with a time of 57:05.67.

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