VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — It was the very first event of the night at the Conference 9 swimming and diving championship meet at Princess Anne Rec Center. Princess Anne senior Mark Wilson led off the boys 200 meter medley relay in backstroke.
“It’s huge. I think it definitely sets the tone for the rest of the relay,” Wilson said. “I like leading off because it gets the other guys stoked.”
Sophomore Daniel Arris was next to hit the pool in backstroke: “We were going for a fast conference record because it was a new conference meet. And it was a surprise to me that we got that national record because I did not know it was within reach.”
But it was, and with a total time of 1:44.47, Princess Anne broke the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association National public school record by almost a full second. Senior Harrison Pierce was surprised by the results.
“We wanted to set a really fast conference record so we were really excited and we got suited up and wanted to swim really fast, but I don’t think any of us could swim this fast and get this good of a time,” Pierce said.
Arris, Pierce and Wilson all swim for Tide Swim Team, while junior Jordan Bovee swims for ODAC. Despite competing for different club teams, Bovee says this record is still very special.
“Its a pretty big deal,” he said. “It’s really cool and something to be proud of.”
Cavalier head swim coach Jay Smith hopes this strong performance propels his team to more success at this weeks Region meet.
“Nobody really looked at this meet because it’s a new deal and a new conference,” Smith said. “District meet records are gone, so really the first person that touches the wall gets this new district 9 record. So that wasnt even really considered until states when it became a big deal.”
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