St. Ed’s varsity swimming and cross-country teams were well represented at their respective regional tournaments this past weekend.
The boys cross-country team qualified by finishing second at the district meet. Elise Mallon and Megan Bespolka also made the cut for the girls.
Scheduled to run the 5K for the boys were Allan Ross, Josh Hurwitz, Zach Alerte, Peter Zheng, Thomas Bockhorst and Nathan Zamerski.
The regional swimming races were conducted the same day. A year ago cross-country Head Coach Greg Garzon and swim team Head Coach Gavin Ross decided to share athletes for the purpose of strengthening both teams and facilitating cross-training. Tough decisions were required for the regionals.
For example, Tomas Botero qualified for the cross-country regionals with a team-best fifth place showing at districts. Botero is also one of the top swimmers and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the pool was his preference.
Allan Ross made the opposite decision. He qualified for the swimming regionals in two separate events, but opted to run cross-country instead.
“I use Allan as a model so the middle school kids can see how he blossomed,” Gavin Ross said about his son. “I run, so I got the swim team running with me over two years ago. That’s when we realized Allan’s talent and potential in cross-country.
“I always encourage cross-training and he has really developed as a runner. To make a long story short, with both events on the same day, this year it was unavoidable. He decided to run cross-country.”
Swimming and cross country don’t even top Allan’s list of favorite sports. That distinction goes to soccer.
Valerie Burke, Mary Cate Stiles, Morgan Chapman and Bridget Nelson earned the right to compete in the regionals for the girls swim team.
Andrew Brown, Tomas Botero, Coleman Kramer, Spencer Greaves, Michael Burke, James McGuire, Kevin Murphy and Barrett Rhymes advanced to the regionals in 10 different events for the boys.
