Inside the Huddle: Swim teams are making a splash
Front row: Sarah Thornhill, Mary Evann Thornhill, Jordan Truesdale, Raleigh Kingsberry, Isabella Sanchez, Kristoef Barrett Back row: Felix Castro and Colin O’Connell{Contributed Photo}
Davidson County swimmers are jumping back in the pool and making their splash on the 2023-24 high school swimming season. Recently, Lexington hosted a swim meet at the Lexington YMCA. The tri-meet involved South Davidson, West Davidson, and Lexington. There are some solid swimmers on the pool deck this year, and here is what the coaches had to say.
Coach Matt Baldwin from South Davidson High School said, “This is just our second meet of the season, and we're a pretty small team. We have 5 girls, one of which we lost to a torn ACL last week, and 2 guys.
We're young and inexperienced.” When asked about his standouts, Coach Baldwin said, “Landon Driggers, a senior, who is also a cross country runner and finished second in the state. For swimming, he is a sprinter and will probably qualify for fifty and one hundred for regionals. Also, Jordan Jernigan, a freshman, has the potential to be a state qualifier. She's that good. She swims all four disciplines well. She swims four days a week and it is her life. By far, those two are the most outstanding swimmers on our team.”
West Davidson Coach Randy Rouse noted that his team was looking pretty good for this season. He said, “We're looking pretty strong on the girls side, and the boys are looking good, too. My seniors are really pulling their weight this year.”
Standouts for West Davidson include, seniors Kynley Simmerson and Luke Nebrich who are “yea rounders.” Also, seniors Aiden Moretz and Sarah Perkins help lead the way.
Kristi Thornhill, at Lexington, is a veteran coach with tons of experience. She began coaching a summer league team when she was fifteen. Later, she became assistant coach for Mary Bolstad (the original head coach for Lexington, in the early 1990's.) Now, as head coach since 2014, she has an impressive track record as a highly qualified coach. She stated, “It has been an incredible opportunity, first given to me by our AD at the time, Ronnie Beverly. I have been fortunate to coach both my oldest daughter, Lily, and my twin daughters currently.”
Coach Thornhill offered an optimistic outlook for her team this season. She said, “We're doing really well, so far. The boys are second in the conference, with a good chance to take the conference championship with a smaller team of ten, this year. The girls are in the top three in the conference, with a smaller team of seven.”
Coach Thornhill with seniors Mary Evann and Sarah Thornhill
The women's team has some outstanding swimmers. Seniors Mary Evann and Sarah Thornhill have qualified for regionals. Both are freestyle sprinters. Sarah qualified in the one hundred free and two hundred IM, and is also strong in the breaststroke. Mary Evann qualified in the two hundred IM, and is strong in the backstroke. They have been regional qualifiers their four years of high school and also participated in the state meet as sophomores. Seniors Isabella Sanchez and Raleigh Kingsberry are critical to distance events and relays. Senior Jordan Truesdale is critical to swimming free and breaststroke and on relays. Sophomore Natalie Boger has been strong in backstroke, IM, free, and relays. Thornhill said sophomore Dashiah Pope has been important in relay events for the girl’s team.
For the men's team, senior Colin O'Connell (swimming for thirteen years) is strong in freestyle sprint and distance events, IM, backstroke, and relay events. Also, sophomores Levi Lindegren, and Jordan Gray, plus junior Nymir Leverette, and senior Felix Castro have been outstanding in their events and have participated in regionals. They should qualify again this year.
Coach Thornhill is an avid advocate of swimming. When asked about swimming, she shared, “Swimming is an incredible lifelong sport which is also a survival skill. It also helps you to build strength, endurance, and joint support. It uses more muscle groups than most sports without the physical stress, such as in running. It is also a great cross-training sport for other sports off-season.”
Certainly, these teams, and others around Davidson County, will be making a big splash this season. Someone once said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” These young athletes are not only achieving new goals, but are becoming enterprising young adults. Good luck with your seasons.
