Morgantown’s Caroline Riggs continues dominant start

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Only once in a while does a freshman athlete come along who you can look at and say, “That one’s going to be special.”

Morgantown’s lucky to have a few, and among them is swimmer Caroline Riggs.

“I’ve been swimming since I’ve been little, so I’ve been working at it for a while,” Riggs said. “It’s a fun experience with my school, and it’s motivating to race so well. I do dry land exercises, swim with a club team in the offseason full time, so I have a [deep] background.”

Riggs opened up her home slate at Mylan Park’s aquatic center on Dec. 4 by breaking the school’s 100 breaststroke record, registering a 1:07.68. It was also good for a first-place win. And when it comes to her success, she notes maintaining a healthy lifestyle, among other things, as a major factor.

“Yeah, we try to focus on [our diet and sleep],” she said laughing. “I was pretty excited, I went into the race trying to [break the record] as a goal time. Now I’m trying to break the 200 IM this year. Others, maybe the 500 free, if I decide to do that at states. It’s pretty fast right now, so we’ll see what happens.”

MHS assistant coach J.C. Pettit noted then that Riggs has an “opportunity to become one of the best swimmers in the history of the school,” which he doubled down on Thursday night.

“She brings unbelievable energy,” Pettit said. “She is someone who has a drive to perform her best each time she enters the water. She attacks every event, and at the end, she has nothing left as far as energy to go any faster. Right now her development is going to be increased endurance and strength as she matures. People get excited when she swims because they know she will always be in contention for a swim that’s either one of her best times or leading the race, no matter how many competitors are in it.

“There’s no doubt that she’ll have an opportunity to swim at the collegiate level. You hope and pray things continue to move as they have up to this point in time, and whether it’s Division I or at the national level, she’ll have success no matter where she goes.”

And on Wednesday during the Mohigans’ home quad with University, Phillip Barbour and Robert C. Byrd, Riggs dominated her races once again, picking up individual first-place wins in the 50 free (25.83) and 100 backstroke (1:04.25). She also helped the Mohigans A squads to first-place victories in the 200 medley (2:04.99) and 200 free (1:50.15) relays.

Those wins helped the Mohigans clinch the quad, edging second-place University 75-66. Phillip Barbour (19) and RCB (9) finished out the bottom half of the rankings.

“Caroline motivates the girls and the guys,” Pettit said. “They have an example of someone who can accomplish what they want to accomplish. She displays and teaches by example.”

The boys finished strong on Thursday as well, picking up multiple top placements.

In relays, the Mohigans A squad won the 200 yard medley (1:54.57), while in individual races they claimed three first-place wins and seven second-place finishes.

Carson Gresak won 1st in the 50 free (23.46) and 100 breast (1:08.85), while Lake Embrey easily won the 500 free with a time of 5:36.73.

Looking ahead to OVACs

Before the season, Pettit didn’t imagine his team would be where it currently is. He’s not complaining, though.

“We’re a lot further along than I thought we would be at this time,” he said. “As a group collectively, they have done extremely well. Every day during practice, it is not a job or chore to get them to work — they’re buying into it and applying themselves when they’re in the water.

“Lake, a freshman, in the freestyle and distance events, Gavin [Fragale] in the breaststroke and Carson — a fabulous sprinter — in the boys’ short freestyles who’s developing into a great breaststroker as well. On the girls side [aside from McKenna Moore and Caroline] we’ve got Irina Stanescu that is a utility swimmer who can go in any event. She’s someone who’s going to have a successful year as well.”

University coach Joanne White is also happy with where her team is, but with a caveat.

“I can’t gauge it until Dec. 22 when they do the top times, but I think we’re in a good spot,” White said. “We need to figure out who our fastest are for the relays, our best fits and which relays we’re going to swim. We have enough girls and just enough depth to do fairly well. I don’t think we’re big enough to do significantly well.”

Why? She can’t pinpoint it.

“I don’t know, I really don’t,” she said. “I thought with the new pool and the earlier practice times that our team would grow and, unfortunately, once our seniors graduated and a couple of people didn’t come back, our team [didn’t grow]. I’ve coached before where we’ve had 30-50 kids and the past few years we’ve been down to 20.

“Part of it is that the coaches aren’t working in the school, but I really don’t know. I anticipated this would be a big year. Honestly, the team as a whole did a fantastic job [in the quad]. We had some great times, some significant drops in times and I see a team that’s supporting each other.”

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BOX SCORE

200 MEDLEY RELAY (G)
MHS A (2:04.99); UHS A (2:13.99); UHS B (2:16.62); PBHS A (2:23.87); MHS B (2:24.93); PBHS B (2:53.76).
200 MEDLEY RELAY (B)
MHS A (1:54.57); RCB A (2:02.23); MHS B (2:12.49).
200 FREE (G); 2 HEATS, TOP 5
A. Gentilozzi, RCB (2:17.44); R. Chmiel, UHS (2:18.58); K. Blosser, MHS (2;19: 28); N. London, UHS (2:32.07); R. Davies, PBHS (2:44.82).
200 FREE (B)
Z. Basler, RCB (2:00.32); L. Embrey, MHS (2:02.89); S. Redelman, MHS (2:09.54); M. Howe, RCB (2:13.37); B. Mudry (2:43.27).
200 IM (G); Top 5
M. Moore, MHS (2:19.66); M. Rice, UHS (2:20.93); I. Stanescu, NHS (2:29.08); J. Annon, UHS (2:29.58); E. Kitzmiller, UHS (2:48.12).
200 IM (B)
P. Fubio, RCB (2:21.04); D. Kritschgau, UHS (2:36.83); E. Johnson, RCB (3:02.36).
50 FREE (G); 3 HEATS, TOP 5
C. Riggs (25.83); V. Maumbe, UHS (29.66); K. Burnett, PBHS (29.86); Z. Wong, UHS (30.22); K. Papez, MHS (30:32).
50 FREE (B); 2 HEATS, TOP 5
C. Gresak, MHS (23.46); J. Howe, RCB (24.39) ; J. Poach, MHS (27.19); G. Chirila, MHS (27.37); D. Kritschgau, UHS (28.46).
100 FLY (G)
M. Moore, MHS (1:04.06); E. Warner, UHS (1:20.25); L. Holmes, MHS (1:20.32); K. Watson, PBHS (1:58.55); M. Sisolack, PBHS (1:58.97).
100 FLY (B)
Z. Basler, RCB (1:03.12); R. Martinez, MHS (1:22.21); J. Starks, PBHS (1:27.32).
100 FREE (G), 3 HEATS, TOP 5
M. Rice, UHS (57.22); I. Stanescu, MHS (1:00.09); A. Getilozzi, RCB (1:03.66); M. Weese, PBHS (1:07.05); N. London, UHS (1:10.66).
100 FREE (B), 2 HEATS, TOP 5
J. Howe, RCB (54.90); G. Fragale, MHS (57.99); J. Poach, MHS (1:01.31); E. Martinez-Mapp, MHS (1:04.64); T. Thomas, UHS (1:06.77).
500 FREE (G)
K. Blosser, MHS (6:22.31); E.Warner, UHS (6:27.83); A. Watson, PBHS (6:56); K. Papez, MHS (7:20.19); F. Cain, UHS (7:38.15); K. Bowen, PBHS (7:54.71); A. Kokosko, UHS (8:14.54.
500 FREE (B)
E. Lake, MHS (5:36.73); A. Fubio, RCB (6:31.55); W. Troischy, UHS (7:35.04).
200 FREE RELAY (G)
MHS A (1:50.15); UHS A (1:57.63); UHS B (1:58.83).
200 FREE RELAY (B)
RCB A (1:40.75); MHS B (1:53.58); UHS B (2:01.73)
100 BACK (G), 2 HEATS, TOP 5
C. Riggs, MHS (1:04.25); J. Funke, UHS (1:11.99); V. Maumbe, UHS (1:13.62); L. Holmes, MHS (1:17.10); Z. Wong, UHS (1:20.46).
100 BACK (B)
P. Fubio, RCB (1:01.51); S. Redelman, MHS (1:03.80); M. Howe, RCB (1:07.58); C. Redelman, MHS (1:19.78); W. Troischt, UHS (1:34.03)
100 BREAST (G)
A. Williams , PBHS (1:31.93); L. Swierkos, MHS (1:32.53); R. Block, MHS (1:32.73); A. Kokosko, UHS (1:47.17); A. Shanabarger, PBHS (1:48.73).
100 BREAST (B)
C. Gresak, MHS (1:08.85); G. Fragale, MHS (1:11.92); E. Johnson, RCB (1:25.13); E. Martinez-Mapp, MHS (1:25.58); J. Freeman , RCB (1:31.48).
400 FREE RELAY (G)
UHS A (4:29.19); MHS A (4:38.14); PBHS A (4:43.52);
400 FREE RELAY (B)
RCB A (4:30.57); MHS A (4:50.94); UHS B (4:58.50)

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