Alpharetta Raiders Set School Records in State Championships

By Lisa Marshall, Swim Community Coach for the Raiders Swim & Dive team.

What a great ending to the season to finish 5th for the Men and 11th for the Women’s team. We had many amazing swims, new team records set and podium finishers to top it off!  We are so proud of everyone that stepped up and gave it 110 percent effort!  We’d also like to thank all of those that came back to finals on Saturday to cheer on your team and show your support as that makes an immeasurable difference to those swimming! 

There are 46 teams in our division, 5A, and of those only 30 scored any points at finals. 

On the Men’s side we finished behind two Gwinnett County and one Cobb County teams that have double the number of swimmers that we have and behind a Northview team that has many seniors and a future Olympian. We just beat rival Milton by 1 point, so the proper order is maintained in my household, thank you!  The men’s team accomplished this with only one Sr. swimmer and one Sr. diver for the men’s team.  The future is bright for us as I’m looking forward to State next year as this young team has a lot more to accomplish!

Men - Team Rankings

5. Alpharetta      146

6. Milton      145

Senior Rohal Leads Women's Team

On the Women’s side we were led by one Sr. swimmer in finals, Jaclyn Rohal, and then a strong sophomore and freshman class.  Our ladies relays really stepped it up and got their points as a team versus individually.  There was an unfortunate disqualification of Jaclyn in her 200IM for flinching on the block and some swims in the B finals that would’ve scored in the A final.  So we have some points left in the pool for next year.  We also beat all of the Fulton County teams in 5A.

Women - Team Rankings

11. Alpharetta      76

11. Archer      76

16. Milton      53

State Championship Highlights for the Raiders

200 Medley Relays –

Freshman Patrick Cusick led off with a 24.22 split on backstroke.  This was the 2nd fastest split, fastest was 24.12 by Sr. Alex Heldman of Northview.  He will get him later in the meet.  Jacob Saban and Ryan Loushin turned in good swims and Cody Reul anchored with a 22.01!  They took 8th place.

Morgan Lyons led off with a 27.53 split and Emily O’Brien and Jaclyn Rohal had strong swims and freshman Danielle Bordes anchored in 24.63.  The ladies also took 8th place!  In doing so they broke the AHS record. The new record is 1:50.32.  Congratulations ladies!

200 Free –

Cody Reul went in 6th but came out on the podium in 3rd, in a time of 1:40.56 which is an AA-C (All American Consideration) time!  It’s also a new AHS record.  Congrats Cody!  This was a fantastic swim!

Danielle Bordes had a good swim, not as good as Friday but a solid performance for 15th, all this and only a freshman?!  There is a record on the board waiting for you!

200 IM –

Ryan Loushin had a solid swim almost matching his time from prelims to take 16th!  Good job Ryan!

Jaclyn Rohal had a fantastic swim in 2:06.74 finishing first in the B final and her time beat many in the A final, however, she was disqualified for flinching before the start so it didn’t count, UGH!  It was heartbreaking for her and us to witness her disappointment.  She had more swims to follow and made the best of them.

100 Fly –

Patrick Cusick was having a good night and as he was only 1 of the 2 freshman in the final he was making the most of it.  He finished 12th in a 53.25, just off of his 53.20 preliminary swim. There is more to come from him tonight, this was just a prelude.

100 Free –

Morgan Lyons set a new AHS record in 53.93 and took 15th.  She was followed very closely by Danielle Bordes in 54.26 and 16th place. Nice job ladies and congratulations Morgan!

500 Free –

Ryan Loushin’s second individual swim on the night and he was in a battle with his entire heat for most of this grueling race!  He ended up 11th and was just off his prelim time of 4:43.00 with a 4:44.60.  Another great swim by Ryan!

Cody Reul decided finals were a good excuse to pull out the fast suit, it wasn’t necessary in prelims for him to take 2nd?  But now he was out to improve on his AA-C time to an AA-A time!  He dropped almost 5 seconds on what was an incredible swim in prelims!  He held 27’s for his splits and finished on the podium in 2nd with a wicked fast 4:30.42, behind future Olympian Matias Koski who improved on his prelim state record time and went a 4:18.57.  It was amazing to witness this event in the pool in front of you.  Congratulations Cody.  And, oh yeah, it was an AHS Record too!  That one will be hard to beat, unless he does it next year.  That makes 2 podiums for Cody!

200 Free Relay –

Freshman Jay Wellman joined Sr.  Justin Stubel, Jr. Jacob Saban and Sophomore Max Lee to go after the AHS record of 1:31.36.  Guess what they went?  1:31.36!  Yes, they tied the AHS record.  In the process they took 15th.  Congratulations to Justin on his last high school swim and getting on the record board in the process.

The ladies were first alternates but didn’t get a chance to swim. 

100 Back –

Patrick Cusick was back in the pool and this time in the A final and the 5th seed and the only freshman in the A final.  He took full advantage of this along with a very strong 3rd wall and came in 3rd!  His time of 51.59 is also and AA-C time.  He’s on the podium as a freshman.  He has no idea how big this is and probably won’t until he’s a senior.  Enjoy it Patrick and we look forward to seeing you on many podiums in the future!

Morgan Lyons used her under waters to win her B final in 58.81.  Not her best time but enough to take 9th place for the ladies team.

100 Breast –

Emily O’Brien went in 15th but improved her time to a 1:09.64 and took 14th.  Jaclyn Rohal was back in the pool in the A final in her final individual high school swim and she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.  This was an extremely close race and she improved her time to 1:05.61 and finished in 4th.  She also broke the AHS record!  Congratulations Jaclyn and thank you for the past four years and the talent and attitude that you have given our ladies team.  We will miss you!

400 Free Relay –

The men went in as the 8th seed and finished 7th!  Patrick came off of his backstroke finish to swim a 48.92 lead off leg, Max followed in 49.70, Ryan in 49.21 and Cody finished in a 47.91.  Their time of 3:15.74 is about 2 seconds off the AHS record. With their growth and potential I’d say that should be in jeopardy next year.

The ladies weren’t done yet. We switched positions which led to a better time than prelims by almost 3 seconds.  They ended up 8th and set a new AHS record of 3:37.91!  Congratulations ladies.  This was Jaclyn’s final swim for us but she will swim in the Ga Tech pool for years to come as she joins their team next year.  We wish you the very best Jaclyn.

Wrap up

So, that makes eight new AHS records, including Jack Nyquist’s diving record.  We also had one more set this season at another meet so the total for the season is nine new records!  To set new records with a team this young shows that we have lots of potential.  Looking forward to seeing it happen over the next couple of years.  Congratulations again on a fantastic season Raiders.

A quick thank you to all the parents that help us run this team and all the support provided to us throughout the season!  We could not do it without you!

We will see you all at the banquet to celebrate our season together.