Splash zone: Final regular-season meet bittersweet for Flagler Palm Coast, Matanzas seniors

Bulldogs win boys' title, Pirates win girls' title at the teams' combined senior meet.

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It might have been a chilly day for swimming. But after several high school events this season had been canceled due to weather, the Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas swim teams were excited to have their annual combined senior-day meet proceed as scheduled on Oct. 17 at the Palm Coast Aquatics Center.

But the meet was bittersweet for the seniors swimming in their final regular-season meet. In the senior celebration, they were splashed from each side by swimmers on both teams as they walked out of the pool. Their coaches announced the accomplishments they made in the water, in the classroom and in the community and read their parting words.

Once out of the pool, they were presented with gifts as their parents draped a monogrammed team towel around their shoulders. It’s a tradition that everyone on both the teams has a part in. As an underclassman you want to make sure you get in a good splash, FPC junior Matilda Noble said. As a senior, it can all seem surreal.

“It's a weird feeling,” FPC captain Aidan Lafferty said. In past years, he said, he would look up at the posters on the pool fence honoring each senior, thinking his day would never come.

But as he practiced in the week leading up to his final regular-season meet, his own poster reminded him that his swim career was coming to a close.

“The whole week, I was just looking at my face thinking, ‘Wow, this is the last time I'm going to be here,’” Lafferty said. “Swimming has been a good part of my life. It’s helped me in a lot of ways. I've just become a better, healthier person, more patient, learning and growing.”

The two teams honored 16 seniors. From FPC: Aidan and Liam Lafferty, Victor Gilbert, James Payne, Loris Eolyan, Dani Nieves, Meghan Hetzler and Chloe Stevenson. From Matanzas: Kailah Hayes, Kendall Blais, Teddy Vanderbilt, Adrianna Pucci, Eva Servello, George Saib, Tatianna Poeira and Jeh-Hanni Strong.

The senior ceremony was held in the middle of the meet, which the teams split. The FPC boys won 88-82, while the girls' competition went down to the wire with Matanzas prevailing 86-84.

“We were really looking forward to this meet,” Noble said. “We had a lot of meets canceled this season because of the weather, but we didn't let that stop us, and we kept practicing. Both sides are pretty good this year, so we knew anything could happen.”

FPC boys coach Tom Gillin said the Pirates’ girls win was their first ever against the Bulldogs. FPC’s boys victory broke Matanzas’ two-year winning streak in the meet.

“It was a tough loss for the (FPC) girls, but it’s good for the rivalry, good for the county,” Gillin said.

Matanzas’ team numbers are up this year, and its depth was factor in the girls’ victory.

“I feel like we are growing, and the interest in swimming for both teams, FPC and Matanzas, is really improving,” Matanzas coach Carrie Purdy said.

FIVE SCHOOL RECORDS 

Matanzas senior Teddy Vanderbilt said he tried not to shed a tear when his parents joined him in the senior ceremony. Vanderbilt, who owns five school records, including three individual records and two relay records, had his sights set on districts and earning one more team mark.

His 100-yard backstroke time was less than a second from the school record. He hoped to break that at the District 3-3A meet Oct. 22 at Planet Swim in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Vanderbilt had a late start to the season after breaking his hand in an accident during the summer and undergoing surgery, which kept him out of the water for about two months.

“I didn't start at the beginning of the swim season and I've recovered my way back,” he said.

Aidan Lafferty knew Vanderbilt was not at peak form, but that didn’t stop him from celebrating his win over the Matanzas swimmer in the 100-yard butterfly.

“I've been working for the better part of three years to beat him,” Aidan Lafferty said. “Teddy had an injury, so it wasn't like crazy awesome. He still would be faster than me. But I'm still proud of myself.”

Lafferty (50 freestyle, 100 butterfly) and freshman Alex Rudik (200 individual medley, 500 freestyle) each won two events for the FPC boys. FPC’s Emma Gilbert (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) and Noble (100 freestyle, 500 freestyle) and Matanzas’ Aurora Purdy (200 freestyle, 100 backstroke) each won two races on the girls’ side.

Other individual winners at the meet included FPC’s Noah Roznos (100 free) and Matanzas’ Leo Peters (200 freestyle), Keaton Lasicki (100 breaststroke) and Vanderbilt (100 backstroke) among the boys, and Matanzas’ Hayes (50 freestyle) and FPC’s Jade Hreig (100 butterfly) among the girls.

 

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