Swim teams sparks in new coach’s debut

Published 9:48 am Thursday, December 17, 2020

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The Davie swim teams turned in a sparkling performance in the season opener and Kelley Cundiff’s debut as coach.

There were 20 events between the girls and boys as Davie hosted Glenn on Dec. 12. The War Eagles snatched first place in 19 of them.

“All of our athletes swam great,” Cundiff said. “After only two weeks of practice we did well.”

The Davie girls racked up a 106-24 margin of victory while sweeping all nine events.

The biggest scorers were Ava Rajacich and Gabby Thompson, both of whom were a part of four victories. Individually, Rajacich won the 200 free and 100 free, while Thompson took the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. The other individual winners were Lillian Seats (50 free) and Kyleigh Harnsberger (100 backstroke).

The girls swept the three relays – Rajacich, Abigail York, Hazel Marion and Thompson in the 200 medley relay; Rajacich, Logan White, Seats and Thompson in the 200 free; and Harnsberger, Elena Brechko, Seats and White in the 400 free.

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Aiden Davis, Earnhardt Harris and Evan Shives were four-time winners for the Davie boys, who buried the Bobcats 88-14.

Davis (200 free, 100 back), Harris (200 IM, 100 butterfly) and Shives (50 free, 100 free) won two events each individually, and Jaylen McDaniel claimed the 100 breast as the War Eagle boys snatched 10 of 11 events.

Just like the girls, the boys took all the relays. Shives, McDaniel, Harris and Keller Frakes made up the 200 medley relay. Frakes, Davis, Shives and Harris swam the 200 free. And Kendal Harnsberger, Austin Boswell, McDaniel and Davis took care of business in the 400 free.

“We had fun and most of our athletes dropped times from last year,” Cundiff said. “More to come from this team. Joanna (Portis) and I are proud of our swimmers with their attitudes and their performance today.”

Cundiff – who replaced Kaitlin Sizemore, who guided the program for three years – is a homegrown Davie coach, graduating from here in 2010. She was a soccer/swimming athlete for the War Eagles.