Split Decision

Two teams erased the goose egg in their respective win columns Saturday at the Hernando County Family YMCA.

Hernando and Nature Coast faced off, with the Lady Sharks taking the top two spots in the final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, to break a 77-all tie and claim an 89-79 victory.

Meanwhile, the Leopards led wire-to-wire and downed the Sharks, 91-78. The Nature Coast girls improved to 1-1 while their Hernando counterparts fell to 0-4. The Hernando boys are now 1-3 and the Nature Coast boys 1-1.

Down to the wire

The girls meet came down to a dramatic finish, but Nature Coast sealed the deal thanks to its two 400-free relay squads, locking up 12 teams points.

Brooke Schreiner, Kahla Voyles, Natalie Bogicevic and Victoria Loydgren came in first with a time of 5:05.51, followed by teammates Laura Holmes, Veronica Bichouti, Olivia Sperry and Emily Granda in 5:34.

Loydgren won both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke for the second meet in a row. She recorded a time of 22.96 in the 50-free and 1:19 in the 100-back.

Holmes added a first place in the 200-yard IM (3:18.22) and Bogicevic chipped in a victory in the 100-yard butterfly (1:26.08).

Voyles triumphed in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:33.65) and Domenique Ritchie did the same in the 500-yard freestyle (7:00). Loydgren, Marissa Pilolli, Bogicevic and Ritchie also won the 200-yard medley relay (2:27.78).

"It feels good," said the senior Ritchie, the team captain. "We have a lot of new people this year so I was a bit worried. We had a lot of motivation. This last week we were practicing harder than we ever have. We had a firm talking to by the coaches. There was a lot of discipline going into it."

"I just think from the results of the last meet (a loss to Central two weeks earlier), they motivated themselves," Nature Coast Head Coach Paul Wigoda said. "They wanted to win today. They practiced hard. They knew that they could win."

Victoria Ketchum in the 200-yard freestyle (2:51.84) and Michelle Martin in the 100-yard freestyle (1:09.90) accounted for Hernando's individual first places.

Those two also swam with Emily and Nicole Antonini on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay (2:10.65).

"Part of me, it's killing me that the girls lost," Hernando Head Coach Anne Elsea said. "But we've never got that close for the girls before. We need to keep working in practice so it transfers to the meet and I'm seeing that. If we get 100 percent transfer from practice to the meet, there's no reason we shouldn't win our next meet."

Hartsock, Lane lead boys

Hernando had two male swimmers each win two individual events and swim on two winning relays.

Senior Jesse Lane claimed the 100-fly in 1:10.40 and the 100-back in 1:08.80. Fellow senior Corey Hartsock duplicated that in the 200-IM (2:28) and 100-breast (1:12.27).

Both swam with Josh Orendorf and Paul Wernicke on the top 200-medley relay (2:03.50) and with Wernicke and Jordin Williams on the best 200-free relay (1:48.20).

"It was a good meet overall," Hartsock said. "I'm proud of how the rest of my team did, the relays coming in and helping me get some more wins under my belt.

"...All year it has been me taking first, everyone else taking second and third. It's good to see my other teammates that are close friends come out on top tonight. That's going to help the spirit of the team."

Another Leopard, Jonathan Phillips, took the 500-free (7:30.90). Hernando also came in first in the 400-free relay, with Max Morrill, Teddy Freed, Kevin Herbert and Williams swimming a 4:35.40.

"I think we were very strong in relays," Elsea said. "We used a lot more strategy on relays and also just a sense of teamwork, a sense of working together. Team camaraderie is huge for us.

"I think it's (the team win) huge. It's just a huge boost in morale, in work ethic. We switched people around on relays. I think it's more a diverse team that has more depth than previous years."

Joe MacGregor won twice for Nature Coast, just as he did two weeks earlier against Central. His time of 25.89 won the 50-free and a 59.23 took the 100-free. Jorden Petracco claimed the 200-free in 2:29.40.

"The boys never gave up," Wigoda said. "They tried hard. Hernando is a good team. The boys practiced hard as well. They did the best they could this week. Reality sets in. You can't win every time."

Girls
Nature Coast 89, Hernando 79

200-yard medley relay
1. Loydgren, Pilolli, Bogicevic, Ritchie (NCT) 2:27.78, 2. Ketchum, M. Martin, L, Martin, N. Antonini (HER) 2:32.31.

200-yard freestyle
1. Ketchum (HER) 2:51.84, 2. Voyles (NCT) 2:54.

200-yard IM
1. Holmes (NCT) 3:18.22, 2. L. Martin (HER) 3:27.60.

50-yard freestyle
1. Loydgren (NCT) 22.96, 2. E. Antonini (HER) 32.00.

100-yard butterfly
1. Bogicevic (NCT) 1:26.08, 2. Ketchum (HER) 1:30.90.

100-yard freestyle
1. M. Martin (HER) 1:09.90, 3. Schreiner (NCT) 1:17.

500-yard freestyle
1. Ritchie (NCT) 7:00, 2. Rhodes (HER) 8:14.25.

200-yard freestyle relay
1. M. Martin, Ketchum, E. Antonini, N. Antonini (HER) 2:10.65, 2. Schreiner, Voyles, Pilolli, Bogicevic (NCT) 2:20.

100-yard backstroke
1. Loydgren (NCT) 1:19, 2. Mojeiko (HER) 1:44.84.

100-yard breaststroke
1. Voyles (NCT) 1:33.65, 2. M. Martin (HER) 1:33.91.

400-yard freestyle relay
1. Schreiner, Voyles, Bogicevic, Loydgren (NCT) 5:05.51, 3. Rhodes, Parresol, Harmon, Lloyd (HER) 5:52.01.

Boys
Hernando 91, Nature Coast 78

200-yard medley relay
1. Orendorf, Hartsock, Lane, Wernicke (HER) 2:03.50, 2. Uroda, Wigoda, Foster, MacGregor (NCT) 2:10.

200-yard freestyle
1. Petracco (NCT) 2:29.40, 2. Freed (HER) 2:40.70.

200-yard IM
1. Hartsock (HER) 2:28, 2. Wigoda (NCT) 2:41.60.

50-yard freestyle
1. MacGregor (NCT) 25.89, 2. Wernicke (HER) 25.97.

100-yard butterfly
1. Lane (HER) 1:10.40, 2. Foster (NCT) 1:20.

100-yard freestyle
1. MacGregor (NCT) 59.23, 2. Wernicke (HER) 1:01.

500-yard freestyle
1. Phillips (HER) 7:30.90, 2. Morera (NCT) 7:47.

200-yard freestyle relay
1. Wernicke, Lane, J. Williams, Hartsock (HER) 1:48.20, 2. Wigoda, Gomez, Foster, MacGregor (NCT) 1:51.

100-yard backstroke
1. Lane (HER) 1:08.80, 3. Ciccone (NCT) 1:25.51.

100-yard breaststroke
1. Hartsock (HER) 1:12.27, 2. Wigoda (NCT) 1:20.38.

400-yard freestyle relay
1. Morrill, Freed, Herbert, J. Williams (HER) 4:35.40, 2. Ciccone, Beetz, Gomez, Mouteguino (NCT) 4:44.44.