Prose and Kohn: Dive in

Of all the fall sports affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, swimming might have it the worst. 

The season is happening, but it feels different, at least to an onlooker like me. There have been no big meets. In fact, the vast majority of meets have been dual meets, with one team taking on a singular opponent. This maximizes the space between each swimmer on the pool deck and limits the amount of swimmers in each lane. At most, swimmers can compete in two individual events and two relays. 

But the state series approaches regardless. District meets for Florida High School Athletic Association Classes 3 and 4 began Wednesday. The state meet for those classes will be held Nov. 6-7. For local swimmers, there’s no more time to adjust. If they want to win, they have to swim their best, and they have to do it now. 

Luckily, they seem to be feeling comfortable despite, well, everything. 

“We've only had a few meets to get ready, but otherwise I feel pretty normal,” said Bethany Rahn, a Riverview High junior girls swimmer. “Normally, you have more time to mentally prep for states. That's the biggest thing [that is different]. This postseason snuck up on me. 

“We have still had practice, and at practice you’re racing against your teammates. That's a good type of pressure, because you’re racing but still pumping each other up, not tearing each other down. So I feel prepared from that. I don’t need [meets] to get ready.”

Rahn won the girls 100-yard fly (1:00.52) at the Rams’ dual meet against Sarasota High on Sept. 26. She also finished second in the 200-yard individual medley (2:16.14) and was part of the winning 200-yard medley (1:52.30) and 200-yard freestyle (1:43.40) relay teams. 

Casey Aten, a freshman on Sarasota High’s boys team, has never experienced a “normal” varsity-level meet, but he's enjoying his first season anyway. The social distancing protocols keep swimmers from feeling as much like a real team as they would like, he said, but he gets it, and gets as excited during meets as he can anyway. Aten finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.32) and third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.07) at the Sept. 26 dual meet. 

Rahn, Aten and the rest of the swimmers will hope to have improved since then. With only a handful of meets charting progress, and most swimmers only hitting the pool in August, times are a relative unknown, but we can look to last season for clues as to who might do well in a few weeks. 

Cardinal Mooney High girls swimmer Michaela Mattes is the defending Class 1A champion in the 500-yard freestyle (4:46.59) and finished second in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.74). Riverview boys swimmers Liam Custer and Jason Brzozowski both had multiple top-five finishes at last year's 4A state meet. Sarasota High girls swimmer Mercedes Traba and Sumner Chmielewski, same thing at the 3A meet. Sailors boys swimmer Evan Keogh finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke. Rams girls swimmers Delaney Bailey and Julia Brzozowski also competed in multiple state events. 

Will they match that output in 2020? Who knows. The silver lining to swimming’s weird season is that anyone could emerge as a new title contender. (Two Riverview freshmen girls, Addison Sauickie and Gracie Weyant, the sister of potential Olympian Emma Weyant, are names to watch in that regard.) I can’t wait to watch it unfold.