ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Community Sports
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
Blacksburg Sunfish head coach Woody Van Nostrand has been on the job a little less than a year, but what a year it has been. Already he and Southwest Aquatic Team coach Bill Beecher have coached three SWAT members to national championships and have seen more than 40 program records fall to this past year's team members.
Now Van Nostrand's Sunfish team is off to a 2-0 start in the Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association's summer season. The club defeated Roanoke-based teams Hidden Valley and Olympic Park June 17, dominating competition in the 9-10 Boys Gold and Silver and 11-12 Girls Gold divisions. The Sunfish also scored a win in their home opener June 10 at the Shawnee Swim Club, tallying 982.5 points in the process.
Castlerock (827), Radford (367.5) and Stonegate (363) also competed. In the two meets, the Sunfish have recorded 80 first-place finishes - 42 from the boys team and 38 from the girls.
"We've done pretty well so far this summer," Van Nostrand said. "We haven't swam all the events yet so it will be interesting to see if anyone is stronger than us in the butterfly events. We've looked really good in the back stroke and breast stroke races."
RVAA meets are structured so the total range of events is staggered over a team's first three competitions, giving swimmers a better chance to achieve the best times possible and ranking the swimmers among one of the categories - gold, silver and bronze.
"The swimmers will be competing in the City-County meet held at [Radford University's] Dedmon Center at the end of the season," Van Nostrand said. "I'm still kind of new so I don't know exactly how many teams there are, but I'm pretty sure it's around 20."
Van Nostrand said the teams that have the best chance at capturing the title are those with balance throughout the three divisions.
"Points are given for finishes in each division, that way everyone is contributing to the team's success," Van Nostrand said. "If you have good swimmers in each division scoring points, you stand a better chance than teams that just have good swimmers in say the gold division."
This 1996 summer edition of the Sunfish features a wider age range than in previous years, Van Nostrand said. He attributed the club's early success to the influence of the more seasoned swimmers.
"The older kids have been really good role models for the younger kids," Van Nostrand said. "In the summer we get about 15-20 new swimmers and this year we have a good mix. We have 32 kids swimming in the 9-12 group ... and that's a pretty large number. But they're all catching on real quick and making big improvements."
If you have an idea for a story or note about recreational sports, call Chad Willis at 381-1672 in Montgomery County or Radford or 1-800-346-1234, extension 672 elsewhere or fax to 381-1656.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. This 1996 summer edition of theby CNBSunfish features a wider age range than in previous years. color.