New coaches, records for Valley swim and dive teams

MAT-SU – With a new record board for Colony, new head coaches for the Colony and Wasilla teams, and one competition under their belts, high school swimmers and divers have started the 2014 season with a splash.

The record board, recently installed in the Palmer Pool with funding from Madden Real Estate in Eagle River, already has new records on it after the Knights’ success at the Colony Tri Invitational on Saturday.

Colony swimmers Zach Bloom, Joseph Anderson, Jake Simmons, and Elliot Amato made up the record-breaking 200-yard Medley Relay team with a time of 1 minute, 43.36 seconds. Bloom also broke the 15-year-old record of 4:55.76 set by Colony graduate Nick Foley in the 500-Yard Freestyle by almost two seconds.

New head swim coach Wil Fernandez led multiple relay teams and individuals to victory last Saturday, coming out 66 points ahead of the competition in the boys’ division and 23 points ahead in the girls’ division at the end of the meet.

Micah Maffe, Anne Sullivan, Camille Dayton and Rachel Crosley won the 200-yard medley relay for Colony last weekend and Sierra Kinworthy won the 100-yard freestyle event by almost three seconds.

“We have a very tight crew of both males and females that are going to be leading the way,” Fernandez said. “This is a team that’s going to be shattering records this year.”

Fernandez got the job as head coach after serving as an assistant coach under Matt Hanley at Colony last year. After two years as head coach at Colony, Hanley told Fernandez he was stepping down and would recommend Fernandez to take his place. Fernandez accepted the recommendation, and after interviewing with Colony High staff and a leadership board of CHS swimmers, he made the cut.

“For my first year (as head coach) I think it’s an incredible team to work with,” Fernandez said.

The Colony team is an amalgamation of Northern Lights Swim Club and Wasilla Waves Swim Club athletes, Fernandez said, but there aren’t really any issues of rivalry that one might expect from the swimmers’ previous competition with each other.

“You’d think there’d be initial tension but they’re incredibly unified in trying to make it to state,” Fernandez said.

On the diving side of things, Colony and Wasilla coach Wendy DiGerlando has a stellar lineup of freshman at Colony and one returning senior, Katelyn Foster, who qualified for the state meet last year. Freshmen Colby Lord, Tanner Belliston and Eileen Cyr all have previous diving experience training with the year-round Wasilla Diving Team and have attended U.S.A. Diving meets, DiGerlando said.

“In the couple years I’ve been with them, this is the strongest we’ve looked,” she said of the Colony team.

At Wasilla High, DiGerlando has just two new boys to build up the team so far — one of whom is a gymnast, which bodes well for him, she said — and would-be returner Stephen Sponslor transferred to Colony, but is out with an injury this season.

“It’s great to have divers that come in with experience, but (the new boys) have that willingness to work hard and do well,” DiGerlando said.

This is her third season coaching the Colony and Wasilla dive teams, though she coached at Palmer in 2000 and 2004.

Hadley Nicholson, the new Wasilla High swim coach, got her start coaching a swim club in Indianapolis, Indiana, then went to Colony as an assistant coach under Dawn Brettrager for a couple of years.

For her first year with the Wasilla team, Nicholson is leading eight new athletes and 26 returnees this season.

“We have a really young team at the moment, which is great,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson cited Porter Boston, Koya Barrette, Isaac Fife, Ashley Phillips, Cheyanne Sundberg and Samantha Belliston as athletes to watch for this season, especially at the Homer Invitational next weekend.

“They’ve been working hard,” Nicholson said of the team. “I think they’re going to give a lot of teams a run for their money.”

The Palmer swim and dive program has a longevity that the other Valley programs don’t have, but the Moose are a young team, too.

“We had a huge graduating class of over 15 athletes last year,” Palmer swim coach Chris Morgan wrote in an email. “We are in a building year but have a ton of strong talent.”

The Palmer girls won the 400 freestyle relay and the 200 freestyle relay and took second place as a team at the Tri last weekend.

Last season ended on a very high note, Morgan said, with the Palmer girls’ relay teams coming in third in the 200 freestyle relay and first in the 400 freestyle relay at the state championships. Palmer also had girls and boys place within the top six in individual events at state last year, and the team earned the state championship sportsmanship award.

“I am very proud of that fact,” Morgan said.

Still, she knows what her team is up against this year.

“Colony is rocking the pool this season. I look forward to the great competition,” Morgan said.

Millie Snelders and Sarah Hanson — teammates from the state champion relay team — are returning this year, Morgan said, and Max Snelders and Charlie Jim are some key freshmen joining the team this season.

There are 32 swimmers on the team this year, Morgan said.

Jerry Godden, the current Palmer High dive coach, said he has some quality athletes as well.

“We have a returning junior who was seventh at (the) state (championship) last year, Gabe Waldhaus,” Godden said, mentioning one.

Waldhaus won the 1-meter dive event at the Colony Tri last weekend as well, and Samantha Laselle, too, Godden said, is “on track for making it to state this year.”

Godden’s son, Reed, is also diving this year.

Unfortunately, those are the only three divers Palmer has this year. For the regional meet, where teams are allowed to enter up to four boys and four girls in the varsity events, the Palmer dive team has room to grow.

“We’re definitely looking to fill slots, that’s for sure,” Godden said.

DiGerlando had a theory for the lower number of high school divers in the Mat-Su.

“It’s a pretty advanced and technical sport,” she said. “Sometimes, by the time they’re in high school, kids have more fear of diving than if they’d started when they were younger.”

Still, newcomers are welcome and encouraged to participate.

The Colony swim and dive teams will be competing at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks this weekend. Coach Fernandez said he is excited for the opportunity to test the boundaries of “eclectic” relay teams in the back-to-back meets, and that there is a “strong chance of another Knight-dominating weekend.”

The Palmer and Wasilla teams’ next competition will be at Homer Senior High School Sept. 5-6.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.