MORGANTOWN – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneer and Lady Buc swim teams competed Saturday in the 2021 Mohawk Invitational at the Mylan Park Aquatic Center.
The Lady Bucs placed fourth out of 17 teams while the Bucs finished eighth out of 17 teams.
The Lady Bucs amassed 254 points.
The Bridgeport girls won the event with 363 points while Morgantown was second with 349 and Fairmont Senior was third with 308.
The Lady Bucs won four events, two individual events and two relay events.
Earning the individual firsts were Cadence Vincent, who won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.88 and the 100-yard freestyle with a clocking of 52.00.
“Cadence swam well in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events,” said Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Michael Roessing.
The pair of relay wins were the 200-yard freestyle foursome of Alayna Whitehair, Riley Vincent, Cameron Zuliani and Cadence Vincent with a time of 1:44.39, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Riley Vincent, Whitehair, Zuliani and Cadence Vincent with a time of 3:58.66.
“Our girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay team won over defending state champions Morgantown,” stated Roessing. “It has been us and Morgantown in the past two years fighting for the state title in that event, and I think after Saturday that will indeed be the case again this year.”
Zuliani also claimed a pair of thirds in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:03.67 and in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:14.45. Whitehair followed Zuliani with a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:14.96.
“Zuliani and Whitehair were in the race of the day in the 100-yard breaststroke,” noted Roessing. “They were out-touched by Bridgeport’s Mara Johnson all going at a time of 1:14.”
Riley Vincent finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.23.
“Riley, for a freshman, had another solid event,” remarked Roessing.
On the boys’ side, the Bucs piled up 162 points for their eighth-place finish.
Wheeling Park won the team title with 347.5 points while Parkersburg was second with 346 points.
The Bucs had three top-four finishes.
Preston Bennett took second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.62 and placed third in the 100-yard backstroke in 58.47.
“Preston had a really good 200-yard freestyle race,” commented Roessing. “He was only three seconds off his school record, which at this point in the season is great.”
Carter Zuliani finished third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.46.
“One of our up-and-coming freshman, in Carter Zuliani, had a solid meet again,” said Roessing.
Roessing said for the second meet of the year, he was pleased with how his two teams performed.
“We had some good swims and all-in-all, it was a good meet and I am pleased with the results,” concluded Roessing.
Both teams will be back in action at home on Saturday, Dec. 16 when they host Sissonville, Elkins and Nitro at 5 p.m.
For complete results of the meet, please click here.
