- December 26, 2024
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Karolina Jaronis, Aryanna DiFatta, Madelyn Derringe and Isabella Tietje broke Matanzas school record in the girls 200-yard freestyle relay. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Freshman Teddy Vanderbilt shattered the school record in the 200 individual medley by 2.5 seconds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Standing, Karolina Jaronis and Madelyn Derringe. Sitting, Aryanna DiFatta and Isabella Tietje. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Teddy Vanderbilt will swim the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly at the district meet. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The pool was so fast at the Frank Holleman Invitational in Ponte Vedra Beach that the girls on the Matanzas High 200-yard freestyle relay team had no idea they broke the school record.
Teddy Vanderbilt knew exactly what he accomplished, however, when he shattered the school mark in the 200-yard individual medley.
“I was really close to breaking it in the morning (preliminaries), so I said 'I can do this easy,'” Vanderbilt said.
In the evening finals of the Oct. 2 meet at the Planet Swim and Tennis Club, Vanderbilt’s time of 2:10.82 surpassed the old school record by about 2.5 seconds.
“He blew it out of the water,” said Matanzas boys coach Josh Fleagle.
Vanderbilt, a freshman, said he had a lot of energy entering the race.
“I focused more on my backstroke and breaststroke because that’s where I lost most of my time (in the prelims),” he said.
"We never set out to specifically break that record. It was very surprising. We were surprised we were in the finals in the first place.”
KAROLINA JARONIS
While Vanderbilt had something to celebrate on the ride home, the 200 freestyle relay team of sophomore Karolina Jaronis, freshman Aryanna DiFatta, junior Isabella Tietje and junior Madelyn Derringe did not know they had also set a new school record until they got back home and read a message from girls coach Carrie Purdy on the team app.
“I didn’t know until the next day,” Jaronis said. “We all thought only Teddy broke a record. When I read the message I screamed for my parents to come into my room. We never set out to specifically break that record. It was very surprising. We were surprised we were in the finals in the first place.”
The girls broke the old mark of 1:52.80 by one-tenth of a second, finishing the finals race with a time of 1:52.70.
“It was a really good meet,” Tietje said. "I think all of us hit our personal best times (in individual events). In the blocks you could feel the adrenaline pumping you up.”
It was the second school record for Derringe, who broke the record in the 100-yard freestyle two years ago as a freshman.
“This was a lot different, because it’s all of us, a group effort,” Derringe said.
DiFatta feels they can improve on their time because she is in her first year in competitive swimming and her individual time in the 50 free at the meet was more than four seconds faster than her split in the relay.
“Before this year I only did synchronized swimming, so I’m very proud of myself,” she said.
“If there wasn’t such a bond between us, I don’t think we would have done it,” Jaronis said.
Matanzas will host FPC in the teams’ final local meet of the season, 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Palm Coast Aquatics Center.
