[ot-caption title=”Swim Team at Districts (Source: Michael Lyn)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/9anrAxPHqsbGywRgTk3tqnBKuzpQfHTASVeSUnIzI0oMsiiFH0JYMQN7bwSaeSeo_-M1tl258axmOygV-NkHiw.jpeg”]

Whether it is above or below land, the two Pine Crest “buddy” teams experienced outstanding seasons filled with success. Training since early August, the Cross-Country and Swimming and Diving Teams have been putting in tremendous amounts of effort into every meet and practice these past months.  The hard work has certainly paid off, as both teams achieved many victories at their district, regional, and, most importantly, state meets.

Practicing day and night, literally, members of the Swimming and Diving Team have been exerting themselves in the pool to become the incredible athletes they are. The head of the swimming program, Coach Fitzgerald, mentions how the team’s training consists of morning and evening practices during the week and early workouts on Saturdays that occur all year round. The commitment and thirst for improvement in all the athletes is a key factor in their success and accomplishments. Even though the workouts are strenuous, these Pine Crest athletes go above and beyond to be their absolute best. As the State Champion of the Girl’s 100 Free, Marta Ciesla exclaims, “I love feeling the rush of winning and having my team by my side because without them I couldn’t have accomplished what I did.” Other victories from Pine Crest at States are Kent Haeffner in the Boy’s 500 Free and Austin Fields and Carolyn Chaney in diving for boys and girls.

From practices at Mills Pond to training at the Pompano Air base to running “easy workouts” of 4-6 miles, the Cross-Country Team has been constantly improving this past fall in order to attack the state’s course at Florida State University. With much preparation, both the Girl’s and Boy’s teams swept the competition at Districts, receiving two first place trophies for Pine Crest. Proceeding onto Regionals and then States, the Boy’s team came home with sixth place, and the girls were just shy of first, receiving a runner-up trophy.

Leading the team and the rest of the race, Julia Montgomery won the girl’s race, making this her second State Championship. With much passion and appreciation of her fellow teammates, the sophomore champion states, “I’d like to dedicate our team’s success this season to all the little munchkins who stepped up to fill some pretty big shoes (referring to the four middle school students on the varsity team). The amount of hard work and dedication that they put into the sport, so that we could perform our best at States was extraordinary.  I honestly can’t wait to spend the next two years training, racing, and winning with these champions.”

Following Julia, the tiny sixth-grader, Tsion Yared, not only placed sixth in the state, but is the number one sixth grader in the nation for cross-country.  There will be more of Tsion to come in the next six years!