THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602100417
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The Beach District's first championship swim meet Friday at the Princess Anne Recreation Center played out almost exactly the same as the regular season.
Kempsville won the boys regular season championship and took the citywide meet by 51 points over second-place Cox. Same with the girls, Cox taking the season trophy and then the tournament with a 66-point victory over Salem.
For both champions, overwhelming depth was the key during the season and in Friday's competition.
``Oh yes. You know that,'' said Kempsville coach Ernie Rille after getting tossed in the pool in a post-meet celebration.
``(Our boys) were just so strong with talent. Of our 14 swimmers, 11 swim for private club teams. They're dedicated to the sport. And when you have two, three or four of them in the finals, you're going to win.''
In the nine nonrelay events, Kempsville had one swimmer in only two. In the others, the Chiefs had at least two and sometimes three swimmers in finals which featured the top six qualifiers.
``We're getting a lot of seconds and thirds and most of the other teams have only one swimmer in the final,'' said Mark Giusto, who won for the Chiefs in the 100-meter freestyle, 200 individual medley and helped pace his teammates to another win in the 200 free relay.
``Our depth is definitely making a difference.''
The same held true for the Cox girls.
``We won this with the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers,'' Falcons coach Joe Gentry said. ``We were five points back at the break and had four girls in the 100 fly final and three in the next event. That's how we won this.''
Cox also featured a pair of swimmers who finished the season unbeaten in John Herzke and Marcy Laderberg. ``They both did an outstanding job for us,'' Gentry said.
Herzke won titles in the 200 and 500 free, and swam a leg on the winning 400 free relay. Laderberg won in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke and swam a leg on the winning 200 medley relay.
Another big winner was Salem's Shannon Turlip, who took titles in the 200 and 500 free, and swam on the winning 400 and 200 free relay teams.
``This is great,'' Turlip said. ``Everyone is having so much fun. We all know each other from the club team meets.''
John McLaren of Kempsville also had a good evening, winning in the 50 free, taking second in the 200 free and swimming a leg on the 200 free relay team.
The top six finishers in each event - individual and relay - qualified for next Saturday's first Eastern Region meet at the Princess Anne Recreation Center against teams from the Eastern and Peninsula districts. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
John Herzke strokes to victory in the 500-meter freestyle at the
Beach District's first championship swim meet Friday. Herzke also
won the 200 free to cap an unbeaten individual season.
by CNB