Liberty's depth downs Coronado

Without a fast individual swimmer to rely on like in seasons past, Liberty has turned to its depth this season.

Its depth was on display Friday night as visiting Liberty (4-1) knocked-off Coronado (2-2) 127-57 in the first meet for both teams after the mandatory Christmas break.

Liberty coach Craig Harriman said he was pleased with his team's performance after a couple of tough practices leading up to the meet.

"We were sore and tired coming into the meet but I am pleased with their times today," Harriman said. "Several girls' were at or were close to their season best."

Harriman added that success in dual meets usually depends on depth.

"With the dual meet scoring system, you need a lot of depth - a lot of second and third places, to win," he said. "However, to win at the championship level, you need a lot of speed and a lot of depth."

Coronado coach Kristin Smith summed up her team's performance as being "mediocre" because of several factors.

"It's hard coming off of the Christmas break and we were missing five of our top girls because they were either still on vacation or sick."

Liberty jumped out to a quick start, paced by first and second place finishes in the 200 medley relay. Junior Katie Chmielewski followed with the first of her four first place finishes, this one in the 200 freestyle.

Despite her quartet of first places, Chmielewski was not happy with her individual performance because she failed to meet her goal of setting a school record.

"I was really slow today because we had hard practices this week but the team did really well," she said. "I wanted the record but I was just off."

While Chmielewski failed to set a school record, teammate Laura Cutter achieved just that by re-breaking her own record in diving with a score of 207.80.

"I had it last year but my goal was to re-break it this season and I did that," Cutter said.

In addition, Cutter's score was high enough to qualify for state. She was one of three Liberty swimmers to set state qualifying times.

Chmielewski qualified in the 50 (even though she swam in the 100 freestyle) and 200 freestyle and Stacy Zenker made it in the 100 butterfly.

- Kurt Eilmes may be reached at 636-0250 or gtsports@gazette.com

Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.