For Spotswood freshman, Jessie Arnold, 2 ½ hours in the pool each day plus the drive back and forth to the Waynesboro YMCA (where she trains as a member of the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatics Club (SMAC)) all boiled down to 5 simple minutes of her life. In those 5 minutes 4.19 seconds, she proved herself the best swimmer in the state in the 500 Freestyle at the VHSL Group AA/A meet in Christiansburg, VA.

“Jessie is a disciplined and committed swimmer who works hard to achieve her goals. Her tremendous work ethic and dedication led to many swimming accomplishments this season,” praised SHS Swim and Dive Coach, Barbara Palmer.

And those accomplishments are many as the 15-year-old’s high school resumé is already quite impressive. Named by Region III coaches as the top female swimmer of the year, Jessie won both her individual regional events (200 Free and 500 Free) and eclipsed her own SHS school records in each at the region meet. She then topped her own mark once more in her winning effort in Christiansburg in the 500 Free. In the two relay events in which she participated (200 Medley with Olivia Sheffer, Angie Kim, and Katherine Adkins and the 400 Free with Kim, Adkins, and Savannah Hepner), her teams finished 5th and 4th, respectively, to earn All-State honors.

As outstanding as her performances have been in her first season of high school competition, the quiet, unassuming freshman admits that her most favorite events are the l-o-o-o-n-g distances, the 1000-meter and the mile, events that high school meets do not feature. The 500 is the longest event in high school competition. Given the results, her training and affection for the distance races surely paid dividends in the “shorter” 500 events throughout the season. A year-round competitor, she will next see action in the upcoming Virginia Senior Championships and Eastern Zone Sectional Championships this spring.

Freshman Jessie Arnold Wins 500 Freestyle

Spotswood High School’s Women’s Swimming and Diving team capped off their best season ever this past Friday and Saturday in Christiansburg.   After successfully defending their Valley District and Region III championships over the previous two weekends, the Blazers finished in 5^th place overall at the VHSL A/AA State Championships, their highest finish ever.   The Blazers’ previous best performance at the state meet was a 9th place finish in 2005.

SHS Freshman, Jessie Arnold, captured a AA State Championship in the 500 Freestyle.

Spotswood was led by star freshman Jessie Arnold, who won the 500 Freestyle and placed 5^th in the 200 Free. Also coming up big for the Blazers was junior Olivia Sheffer, who took 5^th in the 100 Backstroke and 7^th in the 100 Free – despite swimming with two broken toes injured in Friday’s preliminary races.

Other standout individual performances were turned in by sophomore Makena Rafferty-Lewis (10^th – Diving), junior Angie Kim (9th – 50 Free) and junior Savannah Hepner (16^th – 200 Free).

The Spotswood Relay teams also performed very well at the Championships.  The 200 Medley Relay Team of Sheffer, Kim, Katherine Adkins and Arnold captured 5^th place.  The 200 Free Relay team of Sheffer, Kim, Hepner and Adkins finished 4^th.  The 400 free relay of Kim, Adkins, Hepner, and Arnold finished a strong 4^th .  All relays finished in  school record times.

During a 10-1 regular season that saw numerous school records fall, the Blazers defeated rival Charlottesville for the first time in 5 years.  Their only regular season loss was to Western Albemarle, who won this year’s A/AA state title for the second year in a row.  In the post-season, Spotswood captured the District title for the 8^th time in the last nine years, and won the Regional title for the second straight year and the second time ever.

Senior Andrew Echard finished 2nd in Men's Diving.

Spotswood Boys

The boys were led by Seniors Andrew Echard and Austin Folsom. Andrew placed second in men’s diving. This was one up from last year’s third place finish. Austin finished 11^th in the 200 freestyle and was on the boys top 16- 400 freestyle relay.  The relay also consisted of Andrew Krauss, Jack Cooper, and Clay Sowers.  The boys finished in 21^st place overall. Also, Adam Hissong finished 12^th in diving.

See Postseason pictures!

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Pics and Info Submitted by SHS Coach Barbara Palmer

Region III Champs! (Click to view larger image.)

The Spotswood Trailblazers won their second straight Region III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship , rolling over the William Byrd Terriers 140.5 – 96 Saturday at JMU’s Savage Natatorium.  William Byrd jumped out to an early lead when they won the opening event, the 200 Medley Relay, in meet record time as the Spotswood women took second.  But in the second event, the 200 Free, the Blazers depth took over as Spotswood placed four swimmers in the top six spots (Jessie Arnold 1^st, Savannah Hepner 2^nd, Emily Smith 4^th and Stephanie Hertzenberg 6^th) to rack up 24 points and move past the Terriers into the lead.  From there, the Blazers were never threatened in a dominating performance.  The victory also helped earn Spotswood Coach Barbara Palmer her second consecutive Region III Coach of the Year honor.

Region III Swimmer and Coach of the Year, Jessie Arnold and Barbara Palmer. (Click to view larger image.)

Spotswood was led by star freshman Jessie Arnold and senior co-captain Katherine Adkins.  Arnold won two events, the 200 Free and 500 Free to earn the award for the meet’s top female swimmer, and Adkins captured the 50 Free.

In total, eleven different swimmers scored for the Blazers in the individual and relay events.  Arnold led the way with 24.5 points, followed by Adkins and Olivia Sheffer (20 points each), Angie Kim (19 points), Savannah Hepner (16 points), Emily Smith (13 points), Coral Dean (8 points), Divers Makena Rafferty-Lewis (7points) and Caitlin Syptak (5 points), Stephanie Hertzenberg (5 points) and Sierra Hepner (3 points).

Arnold, Adkins, Dean, Savannah Hepner, Hertzenberg, Kim, Rafferty-Lewis, Sheffer, Smith, and Syptak all advanced to the VHSL State Championship meet next Friday and Saturday in Christiansburg.

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On the Men’s side, Spotswood took fifth place with 64 points, as Turner Ashby won the title with 110 points.  The Blazers were led by senior Austin Folsom, who won the 200 Free with a time of 1:51.51.  Senior diver Andrew Echard finished second, as did the Blazer’s 400 Free Relay team of Andrew Krauss, Jack Cooper, Clay Sowers and Austin Folsom.

In total, the Blazer’s scoring was led by Folsom (20 points), Jack Cooper (10 points), Andrew Krauss (8 points),  Echard (7 points), diver Reid Miner (6 points), Clay Sowers (6 points), diver Adam Hissong (5 points) and Kris Schaeffer (2 points).

Folsom, Cooper, Krauss, Sowers, Echard, Miner and Hissong advance to the State Championship meet next Friday and Saturday in Christiansburg.

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SHS Records Broken:

The following school records were broken at the Region III meet:

Austin Folsom broke his own 200 free record
Jessie Arnold broker her own 200 and 500 free records
Boys 400 free Relay- Folsom, Cooper, Sowers, Krauss
Girls 200 Medley relay- Sheffer, Kim, Adkins, Arnold
Girls 200 Free Relay- Sheffer, Kim, Sa. Hepner, Adkins

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Pics and Info Submitted by SHS Coach Barbara Palmer

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Pics and Info Submitted by SHS Coach Barbara Palmer