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This season was supposed to be something of a re-grouping year for the Kaiserslautern Kingfish Swim Team. At the end of last season, seven seniors graduated. They also lost several multi-swimmer families to PCS.
The team that assembled this fall was young, with only one high school senior in the group, and relatively inexperienced. So this was supposed to be something of a rebuilding year for the Kingfish.
What is supposed to be, and what is, are not the same thing.
Head Coach Bob Clinton often says that when the team loses top swimmers, the rest of the squad always steps up on the blocks and delivers. He was proved correct once again on December 8, when the Kingfish hosted a pentathalon meet at the Ramstein Aquatic Center, beginning the second half of their season. The Kingfish swam away with yet another victory in their so far undefeated year, beating the Stuttgart Piranhas, Geilenkirchen Orcas, Wiesbaden Wahoos and Heidelberg Sea Lions by a 161-point margin over their closest competitor, the Piranhas.
Pentathalon meets are different than regular meets, with swimmers competing in each of the four strokes (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breastroke) along with an individual medley (IM) of all four strokes. Swimmers 13-and-older swim 100-meter individual events, and a 200-meter IM. Swimmers 12-and-under swim 50-meter individual races, and a 100-meter IM. Swimmers’ times in all five events are totaled, and the swimmer with the fastest total time wins their age and gender group. Sixteen individual pentathalon titles were up for grabs in this meet, and eight of them were seized by Kingfish swimmers. Among the girls, Annika Zimmerer, 8, Jocelyn Choi, 9, Penelope Washington, 11, Elizabeth Gorske, 12, and Danielle Davis, 13, took titles. Jocelyn Choi’s brother, Joshua, not to be outdone, also took the 12-year-old boy’s title, along with Everett Plocek, 16, and Connor Davis, 18.
While Coach Bob loves it when his team takes titles, he loves it even more when his swimmers give their all. In this meet, 87 swimmers turned in at least one personal best time, with Allie Elliot, 10, Gabby Managbanag, 11, Markus Egger, 12, Gabrielle Cardon, 13, Sadie Peloquin, 15, Morgan Cardon, 15, Noah Craig, 14 and Julio Quinones, 14, hitting the wall at personal best times in all five of their races. Sarah Fuss, 13, posted double digit time drops in four of her five events, ranging from -10.94 in her 100-meter IM, to an amazing -26.86 in her 100-meter breastroke.
The next Kingfish meet will be December 15, a dual contest with their division rivals at Stuttgart. With the strong showing the Piranhas made at this meet, it promises to be an exciting event.
(Courtesy of the Kaiserslautern Kingfish)
