Stonebridge Cavs SportsBlog*

Five girls qualified to compete in what was touted as the toughest qualifying state meet in its 34 year history on February 15 & 16, 2008 at the George Mason University pool. Entering this meet, the team knew it was going to be hard to repeat a state title, but each swam as if they could do it. StoneBridge was represented by seniors Tiffany Going, Brittany Haskell, & Caitlin Ives, 10^TH grader Rachel Peterson, and 9^TH grader Lauren Keating. All five girls placed in the Top 16 in 5 of the 11 events. The flu had plague one of our swimmers and most likely kept us from being represented in the Top 16 in two more events. As it turned out, we finished with some impressive results. In our 200 Freestyle relay we had the 2^nd fastest Div. II time of the State; the 200 Medley Relay placed 4^th in the Div. II rankings, Tiffany Going finished the 100 backstroke with the 3^rd fastest time in the state of Division II girls, and Rachel Peterson finished 1^st place in the state in the 100 freestyle of Division II girls! For the three seniors, this meet concluded their 10-12 year membership with the StoneBridge swim team. In their 4 years of high school swimming, they led the program to a Runner-Up Title (2006), a State Title (2007), and now 4^th place in the state (2008). These three girls will be greatly missed as they have not only contributed their talents, but their dedication and passion for excellence. They have set a standard for many other female athletes at StoneBridge as they have trained for over 110 days (9 months) throughout each the season, without a break for holidays, many times finishing practice at 11:00 PM and arising the next morning at 5:00 AM to do it again. Even more to their credit is that each of the seniors are members of the National Honor Society, which means they have maintained a combined GPA of 98%. All three will be evaluated this spring by the selection committee for the Academic All American Team by the national high school swimming organization (NISCA).