SWIMMING WITH HEART

Lady Lions pull off unexpected district swim title repeat

By John Brewington

The South County Spotlight, Feb 16, 2010

John Brewington / The Spotlight

TURNING POINT—St. Helens swimmers (from left) Adena Fenrich, Amy Gainer, Chelsea Colson, and Theresa Quennoz pulled off a gutsy win in the 200 freestyle relay and that may have been the turning point in repeating as NWOC district swim champions.

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There was just no stopping the St. Helens Lady Lions at district on Saturday.

The girls found enough heart to pull off their second consecutive district champion, and stunned favored Sherwood in the process.

With a four-point win over Sherwood, there was no room for error in any of the St. Helens swimmers–from the top girls right down to the ones taking a single team point for 12th.

“It was pretty amazing,” St. Helens Coach Bill Rash said. “The girls 200 free relay ended up beating Sherwood. St. Helens has not won back to back championships for a really long time–I was told 30 years. It was unbelievable, everything went our way.”

The girls didn’t even realize they had won the meet until it was announced. Rash, named Coach of the Year for the third straight time, didn’t think the team had a shot at the start of the meet. He was still skeptical going into the last two events.

The 200 free relay may have been the turning point in the meet for St. Helens. They had the team points lead at that juncture, but Sherwood was favored in the last two relays where teams get double points.

The Lady Bowmen were the top seed in the short freestyle relay, holding a preliminary time three seconds better than St. Helens. St. Helens’ Chelsea Collson, Adena Fenrich, Amy Gainer, and Theresa Quennoz would drop almost five seconds off that and beat Sherwood, which also swam faster, by half a second.

“The girls dug deep within themselves,” Assistant Coach Gina Harrington said. “They went somewhere deep and swam like crazy. They dropped almost 12 seconds off in the 400 relay (the last event).”

Gainer had set the tone going into the 200 free relay with a surprise second-place finish in the 100 free, just two events earlier. The times were all close, but her preliminary time was sixth. She cut a second off and Quennoz added a sixth for more team points.

After the 200 free, St. Helens was in something like a zone–excited but focused on what remained. Collson picked up a second in the 100 back, and Heather Spears added a critical fifth-place.

In the breaststroke, Gainer moved up a spot from fourth to third and the team also got four crucial points from Jackie Widdifield (10th) and Asiya Zahl (12th).

Sherwood would win the final event, the 400 free relay, but not before a pumped St. Helens team guaranteed their title with a 12-second improvement for second place. The girls (Quennoz, Kaitlyn Stroda, Alisha Haresnape, Fenrich ) had a 10-point lead going in, and gave up six in the relay for a win by four.

“It was incredible,” Collson said, “I couldn’t even believe it. We weren’t supposed to win and when we did all the girls wereso excited. It’s an indescribable feeling.”

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