Talented Swim Teams Prepare for CAA Tournament
2.3.10
During his last 14 years of coaching swimming at Asheville School, Frank Kriegler has certainly witnessed some winning teams. But what’s unique this year is the number of talented swimmers competing on the boys’ and girls’ swim teams.
The boys’ team placed first in all seven of its meets this season, while the girls’ placed second in the Buncombe County meet. The girls’ placed first in their last three meets. And both teams finished first in their last home meet on Tuesday, February 2.
“This could be the strongest boys’ team we’ve ever had,” says Kriegler, Asheville School’s head coach of the boys’ and girls’ swim teams. “I had a strong boys’ team about seven or eight years ago, but this team has the potential to extend what they did. This girls’ team seems more cohesive than many of our best teams in the past. We don’t have any superstars, but we have a lot of solid depth and can score points on a deeper level.”
With the CAA conference meet approaching on February 12 in Mars Hill, Kriegler says the boys’ and girls’ swimmers faced two challenges — working to place individually in the state meet and working together to win the conference title.
“Our number one goal is to win the conference title,” Kriegler says. “Our girls’ will have to swim really well for us to be able to beat Spartanburg Day. They have a really strong team this year.”
When assessing his teams’ performance this year, Kriegler says all three of the boys’ relays are strong and in general, both teams perform best at the breaststroke.
“Will Patton (Asheville, NC) in particular is doing well in the 100 fly,” he said. “Nadine Moussallem (Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia) is doing well in the 100 fly and the sprint freestyle.
New swimmers on both teams have contributed a great deal to this year’s success, says Kriegler.
His best new girls’ swimmers are Madison Willingham (Simpsonville, SC), Emery Sloan (Rock Hill, SC), Katherine Harvard (Onancock, Virgina) and Nadine Moussallem (Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia). The best new boys’ swimmers that have contributed greatly this season are Harald Olsson (Taby, Sweden), Morgan Kallman (Greenville,SC) , and Zach Smith (Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia).
In preparation for the conference meet, Kriegler says his team will discuss several strategies.
“We’re going to sit down on the girls’ side and look at how our kids will match up individually with the Spartanburg Day girls.”
Kriegler expects the conference meet to be particularly demanding on his girls’ team, since up to four girls can score in each event.
“All of the girls will be swimming in at least two individual events and several of them will be on one or two relays. In preparing for the conference meet this year, our strategy has been to have our girls try a lot of different scenarios.”
So far, Kriegler is very optimistic going into the conference tournament.
“We’ve been able to compete and win against some of the best teams in Western North Carolina,” he said. “Considering our boys’ team defeated two teams that are first place in their respective conferences (TC Roberson and West Henderson), I know our boys will be strong in the conference meet. I’ve been real pleased with our progress.
After Tuesday’s meet, 15 Asheville School boys and eight Asheville School girls qualified for the state meet.
The girls who qualified for the state meet are:
Jordan Bishop, Caroline Eggers, Katherine Harvard, Nadine Moussalem, Yoly Rodriguez, Emery Sloan, Kelsey Smith, and Madison Willingham.
The boys who qualified for the state meet are:
Spencer Ayscue, Danny Chung, John Craver, Andrew Dong, Bret Fickes, Gunnar Hamilton, Morgan Kallman, Chang Gun Lee, Harald Olsson, Will Patton, Dan Peng, Hyechang Rhim, Zach Smith, Nick Tims, and Patrick Wood.
To view results from the Feb. 2 meet, click here.
To view photos from the meet, click here.
