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SWIMMING: Land O' Lakes Downs Sunlake As Rivalry Develops

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 18, 2008

LAND O' LAKES – It hasn't developed into the rivalry Pasco and Zephyrhills enjoys but it's getting close.

Land O' Lakes and Sunlake swim teams met Wednesday night at the Land O' Lakes Recreation Center and there were plenty of similarities.

Sunlake opened last year made up mostly of students that previously went to Land O' Lakes and some of the swimmers were teammates at Land O' Lakes before Sunlake opened.

Both Sunlake coaches have ties to Land O' Lakes. Seahawks boys coach Glenna Chamberlain previously coached the Gators' girls team and Sunlake girls coach Heather Geisler was a member of the Gators team from 1999-2002.

And the girls meet was just as close as the swimmers. Land O' Lakes won the last four events to squeak out a 98-88 win while the Gators boys cruised to a 133-50 victory.

Land O' Lakes trailed 66-60 heading into the 200 freestyle relay but the team of Casey Ritchie, Savannah Oliver, Kelsey Whitaker and Alex Pierovich finished first with a time of 1:57.96. The Gators' second relay finished third to give Land O' Lakes 10 points to tie the score at 70.

Karley Nelson won the 100 backstroke for her second individual event win to give the Gators a 79-77 lead and Pierovich, a freshman, followed by winning the 100 breaststroke to help Land O' Lakes increase its lead to 90-82 heading into the final event.

Sunlake needed to finish 1-2 in the 400 free to win the meet but the Gators had other ideas. The relay of Ritchie, Oliver, Kelsey McCullough and Nelson turned in a 4:21.22 to win the event and earn the 8 first-place points. The Seahawks finished second and third.

Nikki Walters (50 free, 100 free) and Savannah Mattox (200 free, 100 fly) each won two events for Sunlake.

In the boys meet, Land O' Lakes won 10 of the 12 events. Curt Hilgenberg (200 IM, 100 breast) and Andrew Busot (50 free, 100 free) were double individual winners while Brad Morrison (200 free, 500 free) won two events for Sunlake.

BOYS

LAND O' LAKES 133, SUNLAKE 50
200 medley relay – L (Hilgenberg, Mapuday, Muley, Busot) 1:53.23; 200 freestyle – Morrison (S) 1:51.92; 200 individual medley – Hilgenberg (L) 2:18.23; 50 freestyle – Busot (L) 25.22; Diving – Kuhl (L) 190.00; 100 butterfly – Muley (L) 1:03.37; 100 freestyle – Busot (L) 56.29; 500 freestyle – Morrison (S) 5:01.54; 200 freestyle relay – L (Mysels, Clark, Kuhl, Singer) 1:43.09; 100 backstroke – Mysels (L) 1:05.12; Hilgenberg (L) 1:12.62; 400 freestyle relay – L (Busot, Mysels, Hilgenberg, Mapuday) 3:44.82.

GIRLS

LAND O' LAKES 98, SUNLAKE 88
200 medley relay – L (Nelson, Pierovich, Whitaker, McCullough) 2:08.25; 200 freestyle – Mattox (Sunlake) 2:25.35; 200 individual medley – Nelson (L) 2:35.96; 50 freestyle – Walters (S) 28.29; Diving – Tillman (S) 169.20; 100 butterfly – Mattox (S) 1:17.16; 100 freestyle – Pierovich (L) 57.87; 500 freestyle – Jones (S) 6:31.71; 200 freestyle relay – L (Ritchie, Oliver, Whitaker, Pierovich) 1:57.96; 100 backstroke – Nelson (L) 1:10.40; 100 breaststroke – Pierovich (L) 1:13.69; 400 freestyle relay – L (Ritchie, Oliver, McCullough, Nelson) 4:21.22.

Correspondent Rick Harmon can be reached at tampabaystringer@gmail.com

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