It's always exciting when two undefeated teams meet late in the season. And that is what we have as W.T. Woodson's boys' and girls' teams prepare to meet West Springfield this Friday, 6:00 p.m., at Lee District RECenter.
This is a familiar situation for the Cavaliers, who have gone undefeated the last two seasons, but West Springfield will match Woodson in just about every event. Both teams have blown away their competition so far this season and are 5-0.
“This will be an exciting meet to watch,” said the Spartans' first-year head coach, Kristy Kellogg. “Woodson has a lot of depth and they'll be hard to beat.”
Woodson has 28 freshmen on its roster and West Springfield has 24. Both coaches expect their freshmen class to step up with big swims this Friday.
Woodson's fast freshmen class may have the edge though, led by state qualifier Leah Rogers and Rachel Ward. The Cavalier freshmen girls have scored as many as a third of the team's points in meets early this season.
“The team came together this year and bonded really early,” Woodson Coach Brian Dufour said. “They want to do well for each other. They push themselves to be better for each other.”
Neither team has as many state qualifiers as it would like at this point in the season, but with the tight competition this meet is sure to produce, it might take a state-qualifying time to get first-place points on Friday.
So far, the Spartans boast two individual state qualifiers in Sean Mayer and Jacob Anderson, as well as the boys' 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay, which recently set a new team record.
For Woodson, Bo Ilgenfritz and Nathan Pease have met state qualifying times in the 100 breaststroke, along with two boys' relays and Rogers, who met the qualifying time in the 100 butterfly earlier this season.
West Springfield has also qualified their 200 medley relay for the state meet, but Kellogg isn't concerned at all.
“We have a number of girls who are right on the edge,” she said. “We're hoping the great competition [Friday's] meet will bring will allow those girls to get the cut times they need.”
Watch for strong swims from freshman Robyn Dryer and junior Lauren Yi for West Springfield girls, and Jesse Kane and Colin Chartier for the Woodson boys. All four are close to state cuts.