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Blue Wave's Taylor Takes 3 Golds

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 13, 2008

Newsome High and the Brandon Blue Wave's Jason Taylor was hoping for a strong USA Swimming Junior National Championships in Minneapolis last week, but wasn't expecting to swim as fast as he did.

Taylor won three gold medals in the 400, 800 and 1500-meter freestyle, breaking two championship records in the process.

"I thought I was going to have a good meet," Taylor said. "But I wasn't sure I could go that fast, to be able to win anything."

Taylor's mind was changed on the opening night of the meet, when he won the 800-meter free in a time of 8 minutes, 7.77 seconds. Blue Wave coach Peter Banks saw a difference, too.

"I saw a level of confidence, definitely," Banks said. "With any young swimmer, and young athlete, whenever they get to a medal and they achieve a certain level, then their confidence helps them step into that next level."

That confidence was evident three nights later, when Taylor set the first of his junior championship records Taylor won the 400 free in a time of 3:55.19, breaking the record of 3:56.17 that was set by Chad La Tourette from Mission Viejo, Calif. two years ago.

"I wasn't sure I was going to be able to break it," Taylor said. "I was surprised by how fast I went."

Taylor broke another record the following night, posting a time of 15:34.70 in the 1500 free. Taylor's time was more than six seconds faster than the previous record of 15:40.84, set by Tyler Clary from Riverside, Calif.

Banks said Taylor's progression has been exciting to be a part of, if difficult at times. Banks said as a younger swimmer, Taylor wasn't the easiest athlete to coach.

"Three years ago he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do with his swimming," Banks said. "Over the last number of years he's started getting better, a little bit here, a little bit there, and he's sort of bought into the program, bought into getting better at what he's doing. He doesn't shout and scream about it, he just gets on with the job, and as each step has come along, it's given him more confidence."

Taylor should be named to the U.S. Junior National team to compete at January's Pan-Pacific Junior Games in Guam, and is about to start looking at colleges. Florida, Indiana and Virginia all have made their interest known in having Taylor join their squads after his senior year.

Taylor, however, hasn't really thought about that yet. He's still enjoying what he thinks was the best meet he's ever swam.

"I think this is easily the best thing I've ever had in my life," Taylor said.

Wellswood Weathers Hurricane, Competition

As Wellswood PONY League took to the field for its opening game in the Pinto League (under-8) Southern Zone Tournament in Schertz, Texas, the clouds were gathering.

Before a pitch was thrown, the teams were off the field, as the edge of Hurricane Dolly swept into town.

For two days, the tournament was delayed, and the scheduled was compressed into a two-day event. Wellswood's players and coaches took it in stride, however, winning five successive games to claim the championship.

"The worst part of the hurricane, we got some bad rain from it," Wellswood manager Russell Romano said. "Some of the outer bands were pretty bad. We were actually waiting to play our first game, and it just came from out of nowhere and rained everything out."

Romano said his team didn't get perturbed by the storms, and when they got onto the field, they brought some thunder of their own. Wellswood scored double-digit runs in each of its games, winning the championship game 14-13 against Keller, Texas.

"Robby Martin, Eric Sennott, Chris Anderson, Devin Parmet and Max Garcia, those guys they all had big games at the plate," Romano said, although he was quick to add that other members of the team, like Ryan Romano, Garrett Sheppard, Robert Hales, Rio Renovales and Austin Carter, had contributed a lot as the team averaged 14 runs-per-game.

Russell Romano also thought the team could be primed for more success as it advances in age through the PONY League ranks.

"They'll be pretty special if they stay together all the way through," Romano said.

RSL Girls Ease Into Super-Y Finals

Qualification for the United Soccer League's Super-Y North American Finals ordinarily isn't a walk in the park. Someone forgot to tell that to RSL Florida's girl's under-17 team, which coasted through its qualification schedule that ended on Saturday.

In 10 games, RSL scored 65 goals, and gave up only six. It didn't lose a game, and only drew twice, in its final two games after qualifications was already assured. In short, there was a lot for Coach Jim Cote to be pleased about.

"The goal is to get the national championship," Cote said. "The kids have played a lot of soccer with regionals and all that kind of stuff, but we used our pool of players between the 16 and 17's, used all 26 kids, had 16 at every game, and your goal is to get to the national championships. You want to play in November and compete for a title."

The number of players was a key for Cote. With most of the Super-Y games being held in the hot Florida afternoons, having 16 players available for each game was critical to the team's success. Now, his squad will try to better the semifinal berth their predecessor's achieved in 2007.

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243 or nmurray@tampatrib.com

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