West Laurel Will Miss Brothman, Raynor

Eric Brothman and Caitlin Raynor have been fixtures with the West Laurel swim team for several years.

"I have known them since they were at the pool around 11 or 12," David Floyd, the West Laurel head coach, told Patch on Friday.

DeMatha High graduate Brothman and Raynor, a graduate of Laurel High, have competed at the 15-18 level this summer for West Laurel.

But they will not be on hand Saturday morning when the 2011 Prince-Mont Swim League comes to an end with the All-Star meet at the Whitehall Pool and Tennis Club on Whitehall Drive in Bowie. 

Raynor qualified for the All-Star meet when her U-18 girls medley relay team, which included Olivia Petrusky, Jessica Sweitzer and Sarah Pankratz, took first in the Divisional B meet last Saturday for West Laurel.

But Raynor is headed to New Mexico this weekend for an outdoor educational experience.

"She is on a plane as we speak," Floyd said Friday morning, while getting ready for a West Laurel team breakfast.

The U-18 girls medley relay will still compete Saturday, along with the West Laurel girls graduated relay team. Floyd is allowed to sub in a replacement for Raynor.

Raynor is a former standout swimmer at Laurel High and finished her first year of college at Coastal Carolina in Conway, SC. The school does not have a swim team at the club or NCAA level and this is the last year Raynor is eligible to compete in the Prince-Mont.

"She has been a big help in the morning practices," said Floyd, the head coach in 2007 who returned to West Laurel this season as the top mentor. "She comes in and does her morning practice and then helps with the younger kids. She has been a good spirit leader with the kids this year."

This is also the last season for Brothman, a former standout at DeMatha in Hyattsville. He will miss the All-Star meet on Saturday in Bowie after he had his tonsils taken out on Thursday, according to Floyd. "He will not compete on Saturday," Floyd said.

Brothman, who competed last season for Division II Nova Southeastern University in Florida as a freshman, is getting ready to enlist in the Navy, Floyd said.

He will enter the Navy Nuclear Power Program boot camp in January in Illinois and eventually do training in Charleston, SC before heading to Annapolis, his mother, Margaret, said Friday.

Brothman, 19, a resident of North Laurel in Howard County, began swimming for Laurel City when he was 7 and then joined the West Laurel team when he was 11.

This will be the first All-Star meet he has missed since he began summer swimming. Last year Brothman won the 15-18 backstroke at the All-Star meet and was second in the IM and butterfly.

West Laurel (142) was sixth and last in the Divisional B meet, as Westlake won with 239 points on Saturday.

Floyd was the head coach for West Laurel in 2007, when the team was 3-2. Since then, West Laurel had won just one dual meet until the team won two this season.

This year West Laurel was 2-3 in dual meets and the three losses were by a combined 43 points.