A Winning Summer For Laurel City Swimmers

There were a lot of changes around the Laurel City swim team this summer.

New families came back to the club and Karen O'Neil, who grew up in North Laurel and attended Atholton and Reservoir high schools, was promoted from assistant to head coach.

But the sweetest change was in the won-loss record for Laurel City in Division F of the Prince Mont-Swim League, a circuit that includes teams from Prince George's, Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel and other jurisdictions.

After going 0-5 last season in Division E under coach Rachel Katon, Laurel City was 3-2 in dual meets at the Division F level.

Even with a 299-259 loss at home Saturday to Prince George's Pool, Laurel City had a winning record in dual meets for the first time since going 4-0 in 2007.

"We have a completely new coaching staff this year," O'Neil told Patch on Sunday. "I was an assistant coach last year so I was not brand new. We tried to do some different things. We just worked really hard and tried some new things."

"We work hard and try to get better in practice so we can do better in meets," said swimmer James Krehbiel, 15, who will be a student this fall at Eleanor Roosevelt High.

His sister, Abby, 17, has been with the team for five seasons. She said there has been a better focus in practice this season. "We get things done," said Abby Krehbiel, who has attended Anne Arundel Community College.

O'Neil grew up swimming for the Kingfish of Laurel City and was an assistant for several years. A recent graduate of Towson University, she has been an assistant coach at St. Vincent Pallotti High in Laurel under head coach Matt Jordan, who is an assistant this summer at Laurel City.

"It was kind of nice as a first-year head coach that it worked out that way," O'Neil, who graduated from Reservoir in 2005, said of the winning season. "But I can't say we take credit for it. The swimmers, they did it for themselves."

"We have a lot more 15-18 swimmers than we normally do," added the Columbia resident. "We may not get first or second in every race but due to sheer numbers we fill up the lanes" and get points.

Some of the top 15-18 swimmers for Laurel City in the meet on Saturday were Laurel High product Correy Blake (second in fly, back), Katelyn Fosta (fourth, IM), Zack Poston (third in fly, IM, fourth in free), Alyssa Lauritsen (second in fly, third in breast, fourth in free), Sean Whitelock (first in breast, third in free), Angela Ellis (second in free, back), James Krehbiel (second in breast, IM, third in back) and Abby Krehbiel (first in back, second in breast and IM).

In other meets Saturday involving Laurel-area teams, Russett ended the dual meet season 5-0 with a 300.5-269.5 victory at Fort Washington.

Triple winners for Russett were siblings Lauren Ritter (girls 11-12 50 fly, 50 back, 100 IM) and Allison Ritter (girls 9-10 50 free, 25 breast, 25 back); Everett Butler (boys 13-14 50 fly, 50 free, 50 back); and Taylor Hicks (girls 15-18 50 fly, 50 breast, 100 IM), a student at Elizabeth Seton in Bladensburg.

Team records broken by the Sharks of Russett in the meet were: Dominic Kazzi (boys U-8 25 breast in 27.31); the mixed U-8 100 free relay team of Erin Devine, Tomisin Sobande, Aaban Syed and Imaad Syed in 1:37.70; the boys 9-18 free relay of Madewa Adeyemo, Chris Marx, Everett Butler and Alex Cartron in 2:20.12; and the girls 9-18 free relay of Allison Ritters, Simone DeSouza, Paris Hicks and Taylor Hicks in 2:14.75.

West Arundel improved to 3-2 in dual meets with a 318-260 win at home over Northridge in Division C. West Arundel will host the Division C meet this coming Saturday.

Triple winners for West Arundel against Northridge were Michael Venit (U-8 free, breast and back), Micah Norsworthy (9-10 fly, free and breast), Colette Pierce (11-12 free, breast and IM), Jay Venit (free, breast and back), Ryan Webb (13-14 fly, back and IM) and Kellianne Venit (15-18 breast, back and IM as she set team records in all events). Michael and Jay Venit are the brother of Kellianne, a student at Archbishop Spading in Severn.

Double winners for West Arundel were Olivia Clark (U-8), Ally Webb (11-12), Jason Schneck (11-12), Andrea Sturgis (13-14), Peter Moyer (13-14) and Andria Moyer (15-18 fly and free), a standout last season at St. Vincent Pallotti High in Laurel. Another winner for West Arundel was Billy Rodgers (15-18 fly), a 2011 grad of Pallotti.

Host Silver Spring, based at Pautxent Greens in Laurel, fell to 0-5 with a 295-272 loss to Belair; West Laurel fell to 2-3 with a 297-178 loss at home to Adelphi; and Montpelier dropped to 1-4 with a 323-246 loss at Kingfish.

Despite just two wins Saturday, the six Laurel clubs were 14-16 in dual meets this season after posting a mark of 9-20 last summer.

The divisional meets will be held this coming Saturday and the All-Star meet is July 30. Laurel City will compete at Mt. Rainier on Saturday in the divisionals. Unbeaten Russett will look for the divisional title at New Carrollton.