'Horsemen' riding high for Mustangs

Mitchell swim coach Joe Lampkin says it doesn't happen often. But when it does, good things usually happen.

Lampkin is talking about his Mustangs' boys relays. Alex Wegener, Ian Ondrejka, Devin McCaffrey and Gavin Hunt make up Mitchell's 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams. Both relays won at last week's Class 2A-Region 2 meet at Gainesville and are seeded fourth in Thursday's 2A state meet at the Central Florida YMCA Aquatic Center in Orlando.

"Once every four to 10 years, you get a group of boys together, or girls. We have that this year," the first-year coach said. "We have four boys that work good together. There's almost zero time between starting and touching the wall - no lapse of time."

It didn't take Lampkin long to realize he had something that would work.

"We established the relays the second week of the season and we haven't changed it," he said. "We did a yardage taper, which I think really helped us the last two weeks. We were really tired at district. We had a practice (the day before regionals) and they were really sharp."

Because of facility issues, the district meet had to be held two days after the Sunshine Athletic Conference meet, and most schools also swam a dual meet just prior to the SAC. So for some, it was three meets in six days.

Whether it's the medley relay or freestyle relay, the four know their roles.

"We have four very strong swimmers," Lampkin said. "Two of the guys swim to the pool and two of them swim for themselves. Two of them are looking around the pool, seeing where everybody else is. We call them the Horsemen - they are the Four Horsemen."

McCaffrey, Ondrejka and Hunt also qualified for state in individual events. McCaffrey is seeded fourth in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke; Ondrejka is seeded 23rd in the breaststroke; and Hunt is 19th in the 50 freestyle.

"I think we'll be very competitive in the relays. I think we'll be competitive in the breaststroke," Lampkin said. "And I think we'll make a very good showing for Pasco County. When you leave points on the table like we are because there are events we don't have anyone going to state in, we're not going to be able to compete against teams that have swimmers in every event."

Other Pasco County swimmers competing at the state meet are:

Girls - Lettie Clark of Zephyrhills (200 freestyle); Alex Pierovich of Land O' Lakes (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke); Karley Nelson of Land O' Lakes (50 freestyle); Beth Tillman of Sunlake (diving); Lauren Lynch of Land O' Lakes (diving); Mazie Siddens of Mitchell (200 individual medley, 100 butterfly); Lindsay Gorgen of Zephyrhills (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke); and Rebecca Pindral of Wiregrass Ranch (100 breaststroke).

Boys - Joe Geschke of Ridgewood (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle); Ken Betancourt-Reyes of Zephyrhills (diving); and Hunter Swartsel of Gulf (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke)

Swimming prelims begin at 9 a.m., with finals at 5:30 p.m. Boys diving is at 9 a.m. and girls diving is at 2 p.m.