ATHLETICS
Owning the Pool BY NICK CRISAFI
Great Swim Season Back Row (left to right): Edward Walker, Ryohei Takatsuchi, Eric Erton, Michal Rokita, and Austin Evenson Front Row (left to right): Ryan Walter, Jose Arrillaga, Thomas Veale (holding trophy), and Alex Evenson
Past Winners of The Sun Sentinel’s High School Swimmer of the Year Award* 2002 – Vesna Stovnaska 2003 – Christy Raliegh 2004 – Christy Raliegh 2005 – Joey Pedraza 2006 – Joey Pedraza 2007 – Stephanie Eisenring 2008 – Elijah Flood 2009 – Thomas Veale *All Pine Crest students
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Pine Crest Magazine Spring 2010
n Another Pine Crest student-athlete who made a name for himself this year was Thomas Veale ’11. As a member of the Panthers’ swimming and diving team, he led Pine Crest School to third place at the state meet by finishing second in the 200-meter and 500-meter freestyle while helping the 200-meter medley relay and 200-meter relay teams to fourth-place finishes. He also recorded county-best times in the 200-meter (1:39.49, tied for the School record) and 500-meter freestyle (4:27.59) which earned him automatic All-American honors. His reward? How about being named the Sun-Sentinel’s High School Swimmer of the Year? This marks the eighth consecutive year that a Pine Crest swimmer has been honored with this title. “Thomas is a very focused athlete,” says Aquatics Director and Head Coach Jay Fitzgerald. “He understands the commitment involved, and he does it willingly and cheerfully. The good thing is he is going to be able to come back next year and see if he can win a state title.” Along with this recognition, Veale was also named to the Broward All-County Boys’ Swim Team along with teammates Marcel Betschart ’12 and Michal Rokita ’12. On the girls’ side, Siena DeVenuto ’10, another Pine Crest AllAmerican, was named to the All-County Team. She was the district and regional champ and state runner-up in both the 200-meter freestyle and 500-meter freestyle. Jennifer Aguirre ’11, Cheyenne Allenby ’10, Rebecca Aiello ’11, Brittany Hammond ’13, Mallory McKeon ’12, Stephanie Moeller ’11, Ana Rodriguez ’12, and Alina Schulhofer ’13 received All-County Honorable Mention. As a result of the Lady Panther’s efforts, Fitzgerald was named the Girls’ Coach of the Year, the ninth time he has been named Broward’s Coach of the Year either for the boys’ or the girls’ teams. He also captured the award in 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. This year he led the girls to a second-place finish at state in Class 1A for the fourth year in a row. His only loss in 11 dual meets was to state champ Jacksonville Bolles. “Any time you can win as many dual meets and be district and regional champs for boys and girls, and state runner-up for girls, it says a lot about athletes,” says Fitzgerald.