Star swimmers can't help Blazers float

At the relay carnival on Sat Jan 10, the Blair swim team's fifth place (out of six teams) finish was consistent with the lack of depth that has held the Blazers to an 0-2 record this season. Blair finished with 34 points compared to Richard Montgomery's winning score of 63. The Blazers had no first place finishes, won second place in the boys' freestyle relay, and inked one third place finish in the mixed freestyle relay.

Relay races pose a special challenge for Blair swimmers, because one or two very fast competitors can't earn points for the team unless they are supported by similarly speedy teammates. Junior captain Patrick Detzner and sophomore Tyler Wilchek are both swimming the best seasons of their careers, consistently finishing first and second in all their events. However, in four-person relays, where swimmers on both teams are stacked to give teams the best chance at a first place finish, two standout times have a limited effect.

Swimmers may only compete in two individual events and one relay per meet, according to county rules. "One person can't impact the team as much as in other sports because of the amount of the involvement that he has," says Wilchek, who is currently Blair's fastest male swimmer. "You can't be in so many events that you can win them all."

Wilchek, who has just moved into a dominant role this season, has placed first in three out of the four individual events he has competed in this year. He has dropped four seconds off his 100m breaststroke time, now swimming a 1:06, which is nine seconds faster than Blair's next second-fastest 100m breaststroke swimmer. He has cut down his 50m freestyle time by over a second, and is now down to 23.2 seconds.

No longer overshadowed by last year's very strong seniors, Wilchek now competes for first place instead of last year's third or fourth. Wilchek says that breaching in the top tier of county swimmers has helped motivate him to perform at his fastest. He often scouts out those swimmers against whom he will be competing. "Now I know the time I need to get beforehand, so I'll practice toward that goal every day."

Wilchek's increased level of commitment this year has triggered a precipitous drop in his times. He now swims five days a week instead of three, a course which he sees as necessary for other Blazers to jumpstart their performances. "If people start practicing harder, then their times will drop," he says.

Wilchek's best events are freestyle and breaststroke, which he started swimming when he was three years old and has stuck to ever since. "The butterfly and backstroke are more difficult for little kids," he says. "With butterfly you get really tired and backstroke you go all over the pool." He attributes some of his breaststroke speed to his "very muscular legs," as kicking power is fundamental to breaststroke success.

"Tyler's a really good sprinter," says Detzner, "he moves his arms and legs really fast." Wilchek says he looking to compete in longer distance races, like the 200 free, where he thinks his newfound endurance will help.

Detzner, who exclusively practices freestyle unless prompted not to, prefers freestyle to other strokes because "it's fast and it's easy." He swims breaststroke as a default event because he says he is "bad at the other two." Detzner has recorded four first place and two second place finishes this year swimming freestyle in individual and relay events. Traditionally a sprinter, he won the 500m freestyle race against Walter Johnson on Dec 13 and has been migrating toward the middle-distance events.

Despite Blair's highly inauspicious start, more swimmers are expected contribute in the last month of the season. Freshman David Vuong, Blair's best backstroker and long-distance freestyler, competed with Blair for the first time in the relay carnival and should add much-needed points to the Blazer lineup.

Junior Captain Ari Halper-Stromberg, who has been struggling with a foot injury, contributed a very solid performance against Richard Montgomery on Dec 20, finishing second in the 200m free, first in the 100m fly and second with his 400m free relay team. At full strength, Halper-Stromberg has traditionally recorded times on par with Detzner's.

As the boys falter after ruling Division I last year, the girls, emerging from a very lackluster 2002-2003 season, have recorded consistent performances from freshmen Christie Lin and Sally Chang, sophomore Kelsey Dean, and senior Abby Graber. The girls 200m medley relay team has finished first and second in the team's two regular-season meets.

Relatively fast freshman, including Cole Brown and Chris Kidwell, should only strengthen the team as they age and gain meet experience. "We have a lot of freshman who are good for freshman," says Detzner. "We don't have people like [graduated senior all-met swimmer] Ian [McKinnon], who would just kill everybody every meet." Detzner and Wilchek, however, have only started to fill the hole left by last year's powerful senior class.

Wilchek, a young swimmer himself, remains optimistic about future seasons. "This year, winning will be hard with the swimmers that we have," he says. "But we should compete successfully in the next years."