Cyclone Swimmers continue improving, winning

Published 9:53 am Friday, December 9, 2022

The Cyclone swim team had another successful week that started at the Kingsport Aquatic Center on Saturday.  The team placed third out of 14 schools competing in the East Tennessee Classic hosted by Dobyns-Bennett.

Junior Kody Broussard improved on his state qualifying time in the 200 Freestyle to place third while fellow junior, Cadie Digby, swam a State qualifying time in the 100 Butterfly, placing second in the event.  Digby also won the 50-yard Freestyle with a time of 26.48, improving on her previously earned state cut.  Morgan Roszel swam the 100 Backstroke in a time of 1:01.50, achieving the State’s qualifying time by just nine-hundredths of a second.

Just five days later, Thursday night, the Cyclones hosted Sullivan East and Westridge.  In a winning effort, almost every member of the team swam personal best times, improving on a week that also saw an increase in the intensity of training.  “We have turned a corner in our training plan, so many of our swimmers are more sore and tired than they have yet been this season,” stated head coach Kelli Broussard.  “They are not only learning how to swim their races, but also learning how hard they can push themselves.  We’re happy with how they did, but also know that they have more in them.”

Jasey Hyatt started the night as she improved on her previous best time in the 200 Freestyle by an astounding twenty seconds.  In his first time swimming the event, Roszel qualified for state with a time of 1:58.47 next to Broussard.  Liam Cannon followed by dropping over two seconds in the 200 Individual Medley for a personal best time.  Breaking the thirty-second milestone in the 50-yard Freestyle, Cara Carr swam a personal best time of 29.90 alongside teammate Megan Royce who shaved .28 seconds from her previous best time.

John Odom continued his weekly improvements in the 50 and 100 Freestyle by dropping .38 and 4.59 seconds consecutively.  Sophia James also had a big night by dropping significant time in both her 100 Butterfly and 100 Breaststroke, improving by 4.20 and 6.40 seconds in each of the events.  RJ Brewer continued to close in on the State qualifying time in the 100 Butterfly, just missing the cut by .53 seconds, for a personal best time.  Carr returned to the water to win the 100 Freestyle with a jaw-dropping improvement of over fifteen seconds next to teammate Eva El Helou who also swam a personal best time in the event and a second-place finish.  Senior Jacob Frickel also swam the 100 Freestyle, improving his time by a significant 4.33 seconds and followed that by dropping another 3.17 seconds in the 100 Backstroke.

With a season goal of breaking seven minutes in the longest race in the lineup, the 500 Freestyle, Grace Artz won the event with a personal best time of 7:02.28, improving on her best time from Saturday.  Roszel also improved in the distance event by dropping 2.43 seconds and besting his previous State qualifying time.  El Helou, Royce and Hyatt swept the top three places in the 100 Backstroke all with personal best times.  In the final individual event of the night, Mia Whaley and Layla El Helou placed first and fifth in the 100 Breaststroke with personal best times, improving by 2.89 and 2.34 seconds consecutively.

The Swimmers will host Cherokee and Volunteer next Thursday, Dec. 15, at 6:00 pm.