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Swanson Stars At State Meet

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY nmurray@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 11, 2009

It appears a change has done Conor Swanson good.

After failing to see eye-to-eye with his former team, Tampa's Swanson switched to swimming with Clearwater Aquatics and Coach Randy Reese. The move paid immediate dividends, as Swanson won two state titles, and reached another four finals, at the Florida Swimming Spring Senior Championships in Orlando 10 days ago.
Swanson won titles in the 200 individual medley (1 minute, 47.30 seconds) and 100 breaststroke (55.87), and recorded times in the 200 breast and the 200 and 400 IM that will allow him to compete in all three events at the World Championship trials later this year.
Swanson also finished second in the individual points standings with 101, trailing only U.S. National Team member Ryan Lochte. Swanson finished fourth to Lochte in the 100 back, and fifth in the 400 IM.

"I was able to look, and I was racing him pretty solid in the 400 IM for a good majority of the race," Swanson said. "And then he kind of destroyed me in the last half, but it was still cool to get out with those guys."
Swanson said the move was the best one he could have made. He added the chance to be trained by Reese, and the location of the CAT training facility, gave him everything he needed.

"It's been going good, actually I'm having a lot of fun swimming fast and training," Swanson said. "It's looking pretty good right now. I have a lot more people to race so it's pretty exciting."

St. Petersburg Aquatics' Melanie Margalis also had a standout meet, earning the most individual points in the women's competition, by winning titles in the 500 free (4:43.06), 200 back (1:57.93), 100 breast (1:02.76), 200 IM (1:57.60) and 400 IM (4:10.71).

Margalis said she thought the experience of having attended high-level meets in the past year had helped her relax at state, something she had struggled with in the past.

"I went a lot faster than I expected to in a lot of my events," Margalis said. "I used to get nervous until I went to Olympic trials last summer, and now nothing seems as big."

Margalis also teamed with SPA teammates Megan Romano, Kaitlin Frehling and Kelsey Krauss to win the 400 free relay (3:22.22), while Margalis, Romano, Frehling and Katie Coleman teamed up to win the 400 medley relay (3:46.55). Margalis, Romano, Krauss and Allie Evans also finished second in the 800 free relay (7:26.27) as SPA finished third in the girls team competition.

Region C Success Boosts FSC Spirit

The Florida Youth Soccer Association's Region C Cup isn't as prestigious as the State Cup tournament that begins preliminary play March 21, but the two Florida Soccer Club Spirit teams that advanced to their respective final four's this weekend aren't going to mind.

Both the girls under-18 and under-17 teams will compete for a title after sweeping past their competition in pool play 10 days ago.

"I thought we had the team to go through," Under-18 coach John Mendoza said. "At the beginning of the year the goal was region cup, we're not silly enough to think we're going to go out and win the state cup, and being that this is a U-18 team in their last year playing competitive soccer before they go onto college, what I wanted to do with them was get them as many games as possible, make the season longer."

While the club formerly known as the Temple Terrace Spirit isn't at the same level as some other local clubs, Mendoza said he does think the club is progressing to the point where it will be there soon. For that, he credits Director of Coaching Mark Shepherd.

"Mark Shepherd has been absolutely phenomenal," Mendoza said. "I've been working with a couple of DOC's, and I'm so impressed with the way he handles everything, and then Brian Dozark, the president of the club, it's amazing what those guys are doing. For the future, it's probably going to be the best club to be at in the next couple of years."

Elsewhere, FC Tampa also had success, with its boys under-17 and under-16 teams both advancing to their final fours, while HCU (boys under-18), Black Watch and South Hillsborough (girls under-17) also sent teams through.

Panthers, Tigers Gear Up For Rivalry Match

The outcome of Thursday night's West Florida Lacrosse League match between Plant and Jesuit might seem like a forgone conclusion. After all, the Panthers just cruised past Freedom 10-2 last Saturday, while the Tigers were blasted 16-4 by Wesley Chapel a day earlier.

Don't try telling that to Plant coach John Shaw though. Shaw believes the familiarity between the two teams should lead to a competitive match at Plant High.

"All these guys are friends, they play summer ball with each other all the time," Shaw said. "They'll bring their 'A' game Thursday."

The Tigers (7-3) are ranked No. 17 in the state after their loss to Wesley Chapel, but played the Panthers tightly in both regular-season contests last season before the Panthers scored an emphatic 11-2 victory for their third straight WFLL title.

Ranked No. 7 in the state, the Panthers (3-1) only loss so far came to The Heights, a private school from Maryland, which won 8-7 when the teams played last Wednesday.

"We played them pretty solidly," Shaw said. "The guys really liked it, it was high intensity, and the guys were working really hard. We'll keep doing that, and we'll see what Jesuit has to bring."

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243

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