Hawks, Falcons Soar Past Regional Foes
Hickory’s girls celebrate their Eastern Region title victory Saturday at Old Dominion University. Photos by Jason Norman
From left, Zach Galvin, Augie Palacios, and Wills Francis were part of a Cox squad that took its eighth regional title since 1995.
A brand new chainsaw couldn't have cut this tension.
With just four races left to go on Saturday at Old Dominion University, the Hickory girls were clinging to a 217-171 lead over Cox in the Eastern Region swim championships. The Lady Hawks had been out in front for much of the day, but Cox had always been the perennial pool powerhouse of South Hampton Roads, and things were far from over; a team can rack up 40 points for a first-place relay win, and two of those for Cox could have gunned a monkey wrench into the scoreboard.
With moments to go before some of the biggest races in school history, the Hickory squad did their best to relieve the dark cloud of anxiety looming overhead.
They went Cha-Cha-ing.
As many of the teams milled around, trying to keep their focus for the closing moments, the swimmers in blue and green turned the pool sides into an impromptu dance floor, grooving to the "Cha Cha Slide," which instructs its listeners to "Take it back now, yo!" and "Two hops this time! Now turn it up!"
By the end of the meet, the Lady Hawks had everyone following the song's instruction of "Everybody clap your hands!" -- with two relay wins (one of which set a new regional record), Hickory rolled past Cox, 326-296.
"A lot of dancing!" Hickory coach Meredith Law said of her team's success as the Hawks celebrated with a routine of "Cupid Shuffle" ("To the left, to the left, to the right, to the right!"). "We're a very fun-loving team. We tried to make it a fun experience. We had a really extensive dry-land program this year: running, doing pushups, everything."
The Cox boys could relate; the Falcons have been men in motion since the season kicked off late last year, and rolled to their eighth Regional crown since 1995, charging by second-place Western Branch 331.5- 244.5.
"It's about how hard our kids work," said Cox coach Joe Gentry. "It's a day in, day out, every day affair, and my kids love to put in the hard work. Intensity is our middle name. We're intense at practice, we're intense at meets, and we're intense in our strength and conditioning, and that intensity is what makes the difference."
A few swimmers didn't even wait until the last day of competition to make some new entries in the record book; at the preliminaries on Friday, Ocean Lakes' Zach Motter and Western Branch's Conner Barnes both broke the 100-freestyle record, and Kasey Morris of Oscar Smith got the lowest-ever time in the 500-free.
Morris kept things going Saturday, as her 4:56.64 in the 500-free cut two seconds off her time on Friday. She also set a new record in the 100-backstroke.
"I wanted to repeat as a double-champion," said the senior Lady Tiger, who won the same two events at last year's regionals. "Mentally, I'm more positive. My coaches helped me realize that high school swimming is supposed to be more fun."
Motter's 47.30 seconds in the 100-free on Saturday just missed setting a brand new record, but it was good enough to take the race, and his win in the 50-free helped Lakes to a fourth-place finish, good enough for a spot in next weekend's state tournament at Bayside Recreational Center.
"I guess tonight was my night!" said Motter, also a strong part of his team's relay success. "We needed more wins to get to state, so my team and I went and got them."
Though the Cox men won only the 200-medley and 200-free relays (they missed the 200-free regional record by .07 seconds), the Falcons were competitive in nearly every race. Hickory's women went about things the same way; after finishing Friday's round with the fourth-lowest qualifying time, the 200-medley relay squad pulled a surprise by taking the first girls' race of the day. However, no other Lady Hawk would take first - until, of course, the sudden dance routine.
After edging Cox by .36 seconds during Friday's qualifiers, the 200-free relay squad knew that things would be rough, especially with such a small lead.
Alex Egress started things off, and finished the first leg of the relay in second place. Maddie Loper went in next, and pulled about even with the Cox girls in the next lane. Jessica Richeleau gave the Lady Hawks the lead, and Alex's sister Emily finished things off in 1:40.20 - over two seconds faster than Friday's time, and nearly a second faster than the old regional record.
Lexi Graves got Cox a boost by winning the 100-breast, but Hickory's Cassie Tandy's sixth place finish added to the Lady Hawks' score.
After the Western Branch boys finished the male portion of the meet with a new record in the 400-free relay, it was time for the women to hit the water one more time. Just as they had the night before, Alex, Emily, Loper, and Claire Dougherty outswam Hampton Roads' finest, taking home their respective race, and a new title.
"We were definitely nervous coming into the races," Alex said, "but as we were going through, we could feel our energy building, and we knew we were going to pull through. It felt great to set a record. We can't wait until next weekend!"
