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The Kaiserslautern Kingfish are accustomed to winning, and dominance in the pool continued in their last two meets.
On Oct. 26, the Kingfish hosted the Stuttgart Piranhas, Vilseck Vipers and Hohenfels Tigers at the Ramstein Aquatic Center, swimming away with another victory. The Kingfish started the meet with three wins in the first three relays, including a squeaker of a finish in the 13-14 mixed medley relay, just touching out the Piranhas by .66. After that, it was a matter of methodically stacking up points until the end, winning 895-837-151-54.
The age 13 to 19 butterfly events continued to be a source of pride for coach Karina Plocek, who described them as “incredible” as every swimmer in that event achieved a personal best, including Matthew Pohlmiller, 14, who broke a 10-year record set by Justin Smith in 2003, with a new time of 1:06.22.
Other broken records in the 1500-meter time trials included Letia Reed, 11, who broke the record set by Tessla Barns in 2007 with a time of 23:49.34, and Danielle Davis, 14, who shattered the record set by Teri Plotkin in 2005 by 14 seconds, with a new time of 19.22.02. In addition, five swimmers — Andrew Hendrickson, 9, Matthew Cembrano, 11, Jamie Butler, 12, Javier Quinones, 14, and Jacob Gibbs, 15 — all achieved four personal best times in the meet.
The Kingfish then took their momentum to Lakenheath on Nov. 2. With only 40 swimmers entered in the meet, the Kaiserslautern team still brought home the win, taking honors with 461 points over SHAPE and Lakenheath, who had 292 and 284 points, respectively.
Five swimmers — Mackenzie Hanna, 8, Tuck Elliot, 8, Jamison Casey, 10, Jacob Clarkson, 10, Danielle Davis and Everett Plocek, 17 — won all three of their individual events.
Eight swimmers — Mackenzie Hanna, 8, Tuck Elliot, 8, Taeve Elliot, 10, Casey, Clarkson, Ben Davis, 13, Libby Gorske, 13, and Patrick Baty, 14 — achieved three personal best times. Tuck Elliot and Jamison Casey each had a personal best over 17 seconds — Casey’s in the 200-meter freestyle and Elliot’s in the 100-meter individual medley.
The Kingfish will host the next meet Saturday at the Ramstein Aquatic Center. If early season results are any indication, they plan to add another tick in the victory column before heading to Antwerp for the 2013 European Forces Swim League Long Distance Championships.
